
ACHURCHonWHEELS 





^ 



T REV. C.H. RUST T 




Book . 1^9 A x 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A CHURCH ON 
WHEELS 




PcEv. C. II. Rust 



A CHURCH ON 
WHEELS 



OR 



Mi^n '^:^^t& tfti ^ ^i}i^pi^l (E^r 



By 
CHARLES HERBERT RUST 




PHILADELPHIA 

Bmcttcan 5Baptt6t publication Socicti? 
1905 






LIBRARY of C0r4GRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 24 1905 

<. Copyright Entry 
CLASS Ol XXc. No. 

I XI SfL 

COPY B. 



Copyright 1905 by the 
AMERICAN Baptist Publication Society 

Published November, 1905 



jftom tbc Socfetie'6 own pvcB§ 



Zo mi? flRotber 



WHOSE LOVE FOR AND DEVOTION TO HER GOD AND 1 

HER FAMILY HAVE GIVEN TO ME SOME OF THE SWEET- j 

EST AND LOFTIEST INSPIRATIONS OF MY LIFE AND J 



^0 mi? Sister 



WHOSE SPIRIT OF PATIENCE AND TRUST DURING THESE 

YEARS OF HER SUFFERING HAS HELPED ME TO BEAR 

ALL THINGS AND ENDURE ALL THINGS AS I HAVE SOUGHT 

TO LABOR FOR MY MASTER I AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATE THIS STORY OF TEN YEARS 

OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE 



PREFACE 



In response to a request which has come from 
some of my friends, I write of God's leadings during 
ten years of service on '* Glad Tidings// Of neces- 
sity the personal pronoun will be often used in this 
story, but in all humility. Both Mrs. Rust and my- 
self ascribe all the glory for what has been accom- 
plished to our blessed Lord, as he through his Holy 
Spirit has used us to help many needy souls in the 
great Northwest. As we have thought of our own 
weaknesses and failings we have stood amazed be- 
fore God as he has so evidently blessed the truth 
when sung and spoken by us. 

After Paul's first missionary journey he returned 
to Antioch to the church there and rehearsed all 
the things that God had done (Acts 14 : 27), so in 
this volume I shall endeavor to do the same, and 
I trust the reader will constantly remember that 
this is a story of what God has done through his 
appointed agents. It is his work. 

We want the Christian public, and particularly 
the Baptist denomination, to know more about the 
chapel cars. While I am enthusiastic over the pos- 
sibilities of this form of Christian work, I would not 
unwisely attempt to place it on too high a plane, 
but rather ask the reader to calmly consider the 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

facts regarding it. This is surely one of the suc- 
cessful forms of evangelistic service of the twentieth 
century. 

These pages have been written during a few 
weeks of a very busy season, when I have been 
holding from forty to fifty meetings a month, there- 
fore I trust the reader will not be too harsh in his 
criticism of the literary merit of this book. I have 
endeavored to tell the experiences of our ten years 
of service in simple language for the purpose of en- 
lightening those who read, regarding the chapel-car 
movement, and with the sincere prayer that the 
story of these years may encourage many a heart, 
and help more than one life onward toward God 
and righteousness. 

C. H. R. 

Minneapolis, Minn., May 31, 1905. 



INTRODUCTION 



The chapel car service is a unique method in 
modern evangelization. The cars have not only 
awakened the curiosity and interest of the people, 
but for fourteen years have been great engines for 
good. They have had the universal approval of 
the Christian public. Their story is a simple one. 
The inceptive idea grew in the mind and heart of 
Dr. Wayland Hoyt through a visit in the West with 
his railroad brother, Colgate Hoyt, Esq. Boston 
W. Smith, known as '' Uncle Boston," with energy 
and wisdom brought the idea to an issue in the first 
car, "Evangel." From the inception in 1890 until 
now Uncle Boston has been the manager of the 
chapel cars, and to him the American Baptist Pub- 
lication Society and the denomination are greatly 
indebted for the success of this branch of service. 
But God has given the Society rare men and women 
as missionaries who have done the most heroic work 
in the spirit of the Master. There are six cars like 
this one, '* Glad Tidings," and the band of workers 
on these cars feel that they are a family ; they call 
themselves ''the Chapel-car Family." They have 
had frequent meetings together for consultation and 
service, and the influences of these meetings are a 
perpetual benediction in each heart. God has put 

ix 



X INTRODUCTION 

his seal upon the labors of these his servants. 
Over fourteen thousand persons have professed 
conversion in the car meetings since 1891. Dotting 
the Southern and Western plains stand nearly one 
hundred and fifty meeting-houses which have grown 
out of the chapel-car service. Whole communities 
have been transformed by their evangelistic meet- 
ings. The railroads have been most generous in 
their gifts of transportation and many other things 
which have made the work successful ; the cars 
have been of great service to railroad men in the 
shops and elsewhere. 

Rev. C. H. Rust and wife have been ten years 
in the service of the Society on the car "Glad 
Tidings.'' Their labors have been preeminently 
successful, and their names are fragrant in the 
West because of their good deeds in the Master's 
name. We are glad to give a God-speed and a 
blessing to this little book which records the expe- 
riences of ten years, and pray that its reading may 
stimulate many hearts, not only to help this work 
and to aid the Society substantially to carry it 
forward, but to consecrated service to Him whose 
kingdom we seek to extend. 

ROBERT G. SEYMOUR, 

Missionary and Bible Secretary. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Rev. C. H. Rust Frontispiece 

Mrs. C. H. Rust 4 ^ 

Exterior of Car '^ Glad Tidings'^ 7 

Interior *' Messenger of Peace ^^ 9^ 

Car on Special Spur Track 19 \^ 

Ruth and Marjorie Rust 2$^ 

''Danger" $7-^ 

Young People's Meeting at Car 6$ ^ 

Railroad Men Outside the Car 96 y 

Railroad Men Inside the Car 10 y 

A Churchless Town /jj5 ^ 

Laying the Foundation /i9 ^ 

Shingling a Church 142 ^^ 

One of Our Chapels 14^ y 

Rev. D. W. Hulburt Holding up Corner-post of 



Church j^o 

xi 



/ 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE .... i 

II. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 12 

III. DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE .... 22 

IV. COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 31 

V. SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S DE- 

PARTMENT 45 

VI. Department of Good literature .... 66 

VII. music Department 8i 

VIIL RAILROAD Department 96 

IX. RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 1 13 

X. RURAL DEPARTMENT 134 

XI. CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 153 

XII. WHAT OF THE FUTURE? 164 



xlil 



A Church on Wheels 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE 

PROBABLY it will be well for me to introduce 
some of my readers to the origin of the chapel- 
car movement, before I state how Mrs. Rust 
and I came to enter it. Many are very familiar 
with the events clustering around the inauguration 
of this idea of having ** churches on wheels" to 
aid in modern evangelistic efforts. 

Dr. Wayland Hoyt, then pastor of the First 
Baptist Church of Minneapolis, was riding with 
his brother, Mr. Colgate Hoyt, along a line of rail- 
road in the West, when he noted the numerous 
small and churchless towns that they passed. He 
suggested to his brother that the officials ought to 
build a chapel car, /. ^., a car equipped as a church, 
with living rooms added, and allow it to be side- 
tracked in the small towns for religious meetings. 
The suggestion was acted upon very soon after, 
and six prominent Baptist railroad men built the 
first chapel car, really as an experiment, and 
presented it to the American Baptist Publication 

A I 



2 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

Society. Since then five cars have been built and 
all are now in service.^ 

No. I, '* Evangel/' is in Indian Territory. No. 2, 
** Emmanuel/' is on the Pacific coast. No. 3, '' Glad 
Tidings/' the one we have charge of, is in the 
Northwest. No. 4, '* Goodwill/' is in Colorado. 
No. 5, *' Messenger of Peace/' is in Missouri, and 
No. 6, '* Herald of Hope," is in Michigan. 

I have learned that previous to the building of 
our first car. Bishop Walker, of Fargo, North Da- 
kota, had remodeled a coach into a chapel car, 
and he, a devout and evangelistic Episcopalian, had 
gone in it to many towns on the prairies of North 
Dakota, and given the people in those destitute 
places the privileges of religious meetings. 

However, I understand that his car has been 
taken away from railroad use, and is now serving 
the purpose of a little meeting-house in some town 
in the Northwest. I have also ascertained that the 
Greek Church has five chapel cars on the great 
Siberian Railroad. Whether they are in continued 
service or not I am not sure. 

In 1892 I began my Christian ministry as pastor's 
assistant at the Warren Avenue Baptist Church, 
Boston, Mass. Dr. Robert MacDonald, now of the 
Washington Avenue Baptist Church of Brooklyn, 
N. Y., was then pastor, and I had delightful fel- 
lowship with him and his church for about two 
years. Mrs. Rust, who was Miss Bertha Smart at 
this time, was the Sunday-school missionary at the 

* At this writing:, May, 1905. 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE 3 

Tabernacle Baptist Church of Boston, Mass. We 
were married at the Tabernacle Church, in Decem- 
ber, 1903, Doctor MacDonald tying the knot, as 
Doctor Calley, her pastor, was sick, and Mrs. Rust 
came to help me in my labors with the Warren 
Avenue people. 

At a meeting of the deacons which was held the 
following April it was voted to suggest to the 
church that it send Mr. and Mrs. Rust to the 
May meetings at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. We 
appreciated this very much and enjoyed a delayed 
wedding trip to Saratoga. 

Chapel Car *'Glad Tidings," No. 3, a gift of 
Mr. Wm. Hills, of New York, had been in process 
of construction during the winter, and was at 
Saratoga for dedication. Well do I remember our 
first visit to it. It was a rainy, dismal morning, and, 
of course, the inside could not present so cheery an 
appearance as it would on a sunny day. We found 
Rev. E. B. Edmunds, the faithful Sunday-school mis- 
sionary from Wisconsin, in charge, and he was 
trying to cook some oatmeal for breakfast on a stove 
that did not seem to have any heating power. As 
we met him he said, '' I have been over an hour try- 
ing to get a little lunch here.'' As we passed out 
at the other door I exclaimed, ''Well, I rather pity 
the missionaries who are to live on that car.'' Little 
did we think that in four months we would be the 
missionaries on that very car. 

We returned from the meetings to Boston and 
started in with our work at Warren Avenue. While 



4 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

I was leading the singing and Mrs. Rust was at the 
piano at the next Friday evening prayer meeting, 
we were surprised to see Mr. Boston W. Smith and 
Dr. C. H. Spalding walk in and down to the plat- 
form, where Doctor MacDonald greeted them. 
Uncle Boston had some pictures of the chapel car 
under his arm, and both of them had come for the 
sole purpose of talking chapel-car work. They 
whispered to Doctor MacDonald and soon I was 
called on to speak, the pastor requesting that I tell 
the church what parts of the May meetings im- 
pressed me most. I arose and said that foreign 
missions appealed to me more than any other work 
which was represented there, and next to that came 
the chapel car. Others spoke, and were followed 
by Doctor Spalding and Uncle Boston. 

After the meeting Uncle Boston, who is now 
General Manager of the Chapel-car Work, came to 
us and said he would like to see us and have a talk 
the next morning. He came to the church study 
first, and told me he wanted to know if we would 
consider taking charge of ** Glad Tidings.'' I told 
him that we had better walk to the house and talk 
it over with Mrs. Rust. We had a prayerful con- 
ference together, after which Uncle Boston left us, 
advising us to consider it from all points of view, 
giving us three months to settle it in. 

The last days of the time were fast going. It must 
be settled. Mrs. Rust went to one room and I 
went to another. On our knees we told the Lord 
we would go anywhere he would have us go ; 







Mrs. C. H. Rust 



Page 4 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE 5 

we only wanted to be sure. One verse, Isa. i : 19, 
kept coming before me — *' If ye be willing and 
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land/' We 
came together and expressed our mutual convic- 
tions that God wanted us to go and that we were 
willing. So we wrote that we would accept the 
position of missionaries on *'Glad Tidings,'' and 
plans were immediately made to leave Warren 
Avenue and sell all of our furniture. We were 
cosily situated, and the people of Warren Avenue 
were very kind to us and it was hard to get away. 

One of the sweetest expressions of love that our 
beloved Dr. A. J. Gordon ever gave to us, one that 
revealed the greatness of his heart as he ever 
sought to do the little act of kindness for those 
whom he knew, and one that has perfumed with 
sweet fragrance our entire work on the chapel car, 
was manifested on our last Sunday night in Boston. 

Doctor MacDonald had asked me to preach a 
farewell sermon, and we had enjoyed a pleasant 
after-meeting with hundreds of our friends. We 
were shaking hands and expressing our farewell 
words to them, when to my surprise. Doctor Gor- 
don stood by us. He had made the special effort 
after a busy Sunday to get to us that he might take 
our hands and say '* God bless you." To think of 
his thoughtfulness of us ! Yet he was always great 
and noble in ever putting forth his hand to touch in 
truest sympathy and interest those of us who were 
so small and insignificant. Oh, how we praise God 
we ever met him ! We have felt that hand-shake 



6 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

many times since. We have seen the kindly ex- 
pression in those eyes as he looked upon us when 
he pressed the hand and said ** God bless you," 
many times in our years of toil on the chapel car. 

People in Boston told us that we could never en- 
dure the blizzards and cold of the West. They 
pictured the sufferings that we would certainly 
have to pass through. And I confess all was very 
dark to us, because we had never been west of 
New York, and while I knew Chicago and Minne- 
apolis were excellent cities, yet what we might 
find west of them frightened us. 

About fifty of our Boston friends, including my 
beloved mother, came down to the old Boston and 
Albany station to see us off. There were a few 
tears, but the greater number were happy, and we 
were conscious of God's promised blessing and de- 
termined to follow where he would lead. 

We had a delightful trip to Chicago, and to our 
great surprise the trip from Chicago to Minneapolis 
was made even more delightful, because of the 
pleasant accommodations and beautiful apartments 
of that magnificent electric-lighted train on the 
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway. This 
was the only one then between the Twin Cities 
and Chicago, and we had seen nothing in the East 
to compare with it. 

Uncle Boston met us in Minneapolis and piloted 
us to his home, where a cordial welcome awaited 
us. We immediately found other friends in Minne- 
apolis, and all whom we met seemed to be anxious 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE 7 

to make everything pleasant for us. I want to say 
to any and all who may read these words, that it 
always pays to say *'Yes"to God. He is our 
Friend, our Father, and it is impossible to conceive 
of an earthly father doing more for his children than 
our God wants to do for us. 

As I look back over these ten years I am con- 
scious that there has been some hardship, some 
sacrifices, some real hard work, but the compensa- 
tions of the Holy Spirit have been rich and abun- 
dant, and God's blessings, like flowers, have been 
strewn along the pathway. 

We had no conception of what God was leading 
us into when we said *' Yes '' to him. In full con- 
sciousness of the strenuous life, of the valleys and 
shadows and the inconvenience of being without a 
home for years, we can honestly say that if God 
had revealed all that this life was to mean before 
we started, we would have said *'Yes'' much 
quicker than we did. No amount of money could 
pay for the experiences of this decade of years nor 
take the place of the vision that God has given to 
me of himself, of man, of what man can be, and 
of the glorious opportunities of Christian service. 

I was anxious to go down to the chapel car, and 
therefore Uncle Boston and I went together to look 
over the church and parsonage in which Mrs. Rust 
and I were to labor for so many years, and perhaps 
I had better describe it for the benefit of some of 
my readers. 

It is a handsome car and is certainly a worthy 



8 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

addition to any train. It is seventy-seven feet long 
and eleven feet wide. 

On the top of the side you could see the words 
"Chapel Car/' and in the center of the side the 
name **Glad Tidings/' both in letters of gold. 
There is an eaves-trough on the roof with hose 
attachment, so that the water tanks can be filled 
with soft water during the greater part of the year. 
Under the car you will find boxes to hold thirty- 
five hundred pounds of coal, storm sash and screens, 
oil stove and oven, and provisions and books and 
tracts. You will also find a ladder and a storm 
door and four screen doors hanging under the floor. 

As you step into the chapel you are amazed at 
the size, for there is an audience room fifty-two 
feet long and capable of seating more than one 
hundred people. We have often had one hundred 
and seventy-five children in this room. The seats 
are arranged for three on one side and two on the 
other, with a narrow aisle between. Some one 
asked one of our missionaries why they had it thus 
arranged for three on one side and two on the other, 
and he answered, " Because they decided that it 
was easier to do that than to put two and a half 
on each side.'' 

At the other end of the audience room you would 
see an excellent Estey organ (the Estey Company 
donating one to each of our cars), a beautiful brass 
lectern, a blackboard, and a library belonging to 
the missionary, and one filled with books to loan in 
small towns. The aisle is carpeted, rugs are on 




< 



< 

X 

u 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE 9 

the pulpit platform, and the car is wired for electric 
lighting, has kerosene lamps, and is now fitted with 
an acetylene gas plant. 

As we step from the chapel toward the living 
rooms we find ourselves in a miniature parsonage, 
eighteen feet long and ten feet wide. In this space 
we have a bedroom with two berths, a dining room 
with table, a study with typewriter, desk, and li- 
brary, a kitchen with range and closet, an ice chest, 
pantry, wardrobe, toilet room, and heater to heat 
the entire car with. 

The chapel car in all its apartments could hardly 
be improved upon. Nothing is extravagant, yet 
everything substantial. As one general manager 
of a railroad said when he saw it, " Just right for its 
purpose," so I exclaimed more than once as Uncle 
Boston led me through it. Everything needed for 
our comfort seemed to be there. Mr. Wm. Hills, 
who gave the car, is a member of the Mt. Morris 
Baptist Church, of New York City, W. C. Bit- 
ting, D. D., pastor, and how fitting and kind it was 
for this church to pay for all the interior fur- 
nishings of the car and to promise to keep it fur- 
nished as long as it should be in use. They have 
done as they agreed, and whenever any money has 
been needed to buy rugs or carpets or make in- 
terior improvements, they have gladly responded 
through Mrs. E. S. Clinch, the treasurer of the 
Women's Society of the church. Before leaving the 
car upon my first visit after arriving in Minneapo- 
lis, Uncle Boston and I kneeled in the little study 



10 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

and committed ourselves entirely to Him, as we 
earnestly prayed for God's blessing upon the la- 
bors of the missionaries who were to work in this 
beautiful church on wheels. We held a reception 
in the car during the State Convention, which was 
then convening in the Emmanuel Baptist Church, 
of Minneapolis, and met many of the prominent 
Baptist pastors and laymen of Minnesota. 

We have since learned that the consensus of 
opinion among the people was that we would en- 
dure chapel-car life but a short time. One Minne- 
apolis pastor told a friend of ours that it was a 
downright shame that the Publication Society 
should allow two weak and sickly young people 
like us to take charge of the car and engage in such 
arduous labor. I think if he should see us now, 
with our two children, he would think that we have 
endured the work very well. Mrs. Rust has gained 
twenty pounds and I have gained about fifteen. It 
isn't work that hurts, it is worry. 

After the State Convention we filled our chapel- 
car pantry with a good stock of provisions and 
started on a short trip along the Minnesota division 
of the Northern Pacific Railway, getting as far north 
as Crookston, where I am at this minute as I pen 
these lines, just ten years and two months after. 

That first trip was exceedingly trying. It was 
all new to us. For a number of days we had been 
sleeping in the car in the Minneapolis freight yards 
but the switching engines made it almost impossible 
to rest. We stopped at Brainerd the next week 



ENTERING THE CHAPEL-CAR SERVICE II 

and the switching engines bothered us much there. 
Then the next week we were sidetracked behind 
the coal chute at Staples, and as they loaded the 
engines about all night we could not sleep much 
there. If this had continued in every town we 
would have been obliged to get a room outside, but 
in the small towns we were not bothered much. 
We returned to Minneapolis after a month's trip to 
get the car fitted out with storm windows for the 
winter, and with a consciousness that we had actu- 
ally begun a life on the car which was to open up 
many opportunities for service in the Master's name. 



II 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

THE matter of transportation is very important 
to the success of chapel-car service. In 
taking this up with the railroads it necessarily 
brought us into direct contact with the presidents 
and officials of our great Western railroad systems, 
and we are glad to state that, with rarely an ex- 
ception, we have found them to be courteous gen- 
tlemen, anxious to do the right thing for their men, 
for the towns along their lines, and for the general 
public. We have no sympathy with those who 
think they are shrewd when they attempt to get 
the best of a railroad company in the matter of 
transportation. We fear that much of the dealing 
with these companies which is called smart is 
nothing more nor less than stealing. While it is 
true that the railway companies are far from being 
perfect, yet they are not soulless corporations in 
every instance, and many of them are headed by 
conscientious Christian gentlemen. At times they 
have been deceived by some who professed to be 
right and true, and it has been our policy since the 
beginning of chapel-car work to be perfectly frank 
and honest with them. We have asked them to 
look into our work from every point of view and 

12 



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 1 3 

examine every detail of service along the line, giving 
us no consideration that we are not worthy of. 

It is the rule of the companies to grant no passes 
except for some consideration. If the chapel-car 
work could not show where it really helped the 
company and its towns we were doomed. We are 
glad to state that the efficiency and benefit of the 
service rendered through the chapel car has been 
almost universally acknowledged in railroad circles. 

There were many questions in the minds of the 
denomination when the Publication Society ac- 
cepted the first chapel car. It was considered by 
some to be the result of the dreaming of an im- 
practical mind; by others it was styled a ''white 
elephant/' by others '' Uncle Boston's Toy/' and 
even the most enthusiastic questioned its perma- 
nent usefulness under the most favorable condi- 
tions. It certainly was an experiment. It was one 
thing to have a car ; it was another to get it hauled. 
If it could not be hauled at a small sum per mile 
how could it be used ? And when we consider the 
fact that the universal price charged by railroad 
companies for hauling a car is fifty-four cents a 
mile, and that those who gave the first car, al- 
though being railroad officials, would not guarantee 
to use their influence toward getting reduced rates 
for the car, what could the most sanguine expect ? 

Very fortunately the matter was placed in the 
hands of Mr. Boston W. Smith, of Minneapolis, with 
instructions to ascertain what the railroad compa- 
nies would do. After much prayer he took some 



14 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

pictures of the car to the office of tiie general man- 
ager of one of the great Western systems control- 
ling five thousand miles of track, and after explain- 
ing the purpose of the car and the nature of the 
work very carefully to this man, asked him what 
his company could do for it. After thinking it over 
this official pressed a button ; a clerk came in, and 
he told him to issue a free pass over all divisions, 
good for Boston W. Smith and assistant, and car 
'* Evangel, '^ with special instructions to trainmen 
to make it as pleasant as possible for Mr. Smith. 

It v^as difficult for Uncle Boston to find words 
with which to express himself, as he tried to thank 
this general manager. As he accepted the pass 
from the clerk, and walked out of the office, he was 
overwhelmingly convinced that God's hand was in 
this. Ever since that day Mr. Smith has proven 
himself a great help to the entire chapel-car move- 
ment by his ability to talk with and interest railroad 
officials in the work. God alone knows how much 
has been accomplished in the matter of transpor- 
tation by his prayerful, tactful, personal contact 
with railroad men. We owe much to him. How- 
ever, each chapel-car missionary has had much to 
do with transportation matters. It is well for the 
missionary to meet the officials and know them and 
for them to know him. 

It is also true that much depends upon the per- 
sonal character of the railroad official with whom 
he is to deal. If that man is a conscientious Chris- 
tian, or recognizes the moral benefit derived from 



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 1 5 

Christ's teachings being inculcated in the minds of 
his men, he will be much more favorably impressed 
with the chapel car than one who has no tolerance 
for religion. Let me add, however, that there has 
never been a time previous to the present when 
railroad companies were so free to recognize the 
demand and need for moral character among their 
employees as to-day. They are enforcing rules re- 
garding drinking and frequenting saloons that would 
not have been tolerated a few years ago. There- 
fore the power of the chapel-car with their own 
men is more easily seen. 

We must not think that this proves that all the 
railroads of the country have been throwing passes 
into our hands without being asked and earnestly 
reasoned with. We generally have to work for 
what we get in this world. I want to state also 
that some railroad companies have not understood 
what basis our work stood on. I was in the office 
of an official of a very large Western system not 
long ago. During our conversation he said, ** Why 
you have a great deal of wealth back of your 
chapel car, haven't you ? '' I answered, '* No, 
sir. We depend entirely upon the contributions 
from churches and individuals.'' *'Oh, yes," he 
said, '* I recognize that, but there is one particular 
individual, is there not ? " He believed that a cer- 
tain wealthy and prominent Baptist was forwarding 
the money to pay our bills, including transportation. 

I remember taking two pictures of my car and 
calling at the office of the general manager of a 



l6 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 



(( 



system '* whose main offices were in St. Paul, 
Minn. He was not particularly cordial but was 
gentlemanly in his manner toward me. After 
looking at the pictures, and noting my request to 
have his company haul the car, he turned toward 
me and said rather abruptly, ** I would not have 
that car on my line for three months for any 
amount of money." I then said to him, '*! think 
you misunderstand my request and the work of the 
car when you answer in this way. I appreciate 
the many calls you have from religious organiza- 
tions for special transportation, and that this at 
first thought seems to be an unreasonable request, 
as the car might be in the way of traffic on your 
line, but I do not come to you as one who wants 
something for nothing, but as a man with a reason- 
able and Christian business project to present to 
you, and, if after explaining it more fully and 
answering all of your questions concerning it, you 
can honestly say that our work is not worthy 
of your consideration, and your company will not 
be benefited enough to pay for the hauling of the 
car, then I do not want you to grant me any special 
transportation." 

He called in another official and we had a long, 
frank talk. I answered all their questions the best 
I could, and told them of our side-tracking the car 
at the shops for a noonday meeting for the railroad 
men. I reminded them that the theatre and circus 
cars stop at the town to take money out, and had, 
many times at least, a bad effect upon the people 



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 1 7 

of the town and the railroad men who handled the 
car, but we stopped in the town to help the people 
morally and to leave money there in church build- 
ings, etc. I also told them of the work of the car 
in a new community where there were saloons and 
no church. How we had gone to towns like that 
and stayed until the whole moral atmosphere of the 
town was changed and a meeting-house was erected 
and paid for. Then I informed them of our personal 
touch with their men along all the line ; of the 
many railroad men whose lives had been changed 
from sin to righteousness. 

This general manager finally said, '* Well, Mr. 
Rust, we will think it over, and if you will call to- 
morrow we will see what we can do for you.*' I 
thanked him, told him I would call the next day, 
and after a pleasant farewell word, left the office. 

I had left the building and was standing on the 
corner of the street waiting for a car, when a col- 
ored man stepped up to me. He asked if I was the 
young man who had been talking with the general 
manager. I answered, **Yes, sir.'' '*Well,'' he 
continued, "I was behind a door in the ofifice and 
heard your talk, and I want to tell you that you will 
git your pass all right, never you fear ; now you 
see if you don't.*' His eye twinkled, and he re- 
vealed a fine set of white teeth as he smiled, and 
I confess that his words made me hopeful. 

I called the next day, and sure enough the gen- 
eral manager gave me a time pass, and as I told 
him to have his men watch our movements and 

B 



l8 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

work along his line, he expressed a wish that we 
might be successful in our undertakings. Since 
then he has been very kind to us and granted us 
transportation many times for special trips. 

Our annual passes read in nearly every instance, 
** Pass C. H. Rust and assistant.*' These are good 
on any train, thus enabling me to get home to see 
my loved ones without drawing on the ** mission- 
ary fund." The car is moved under special orders 
each time. Trip passes generally read, " Pass C. 
H. Rust, car, and party." 

We are very careful never to abuse our priv- 
ileges in any way. The railway companies trust 
us, and we surely want them to continue to do so. 
We have had people come to us a number of times 
and ask if they could not ride with us. One man 
wanted us to put him under the seats. Our answer 
is always *'No." 

We never make any ''demands" as to what 
train the car is to be hauled on. The division su- 
perintendent decides which is the most convenient, 
and we acquiesce. On long hauls we use the pas- 
senger trains and on short hauls freight trains. 

DIFFICULTY 

One matter of transportation has bothered us con- 
siderably. It is the question of how to get side-track 
privileges for a number of days or weeks without 
becoming a nuisance to the company's men, as they 
are obliged to switch the cars on the house or in- 
dustry track every day, and there isn't an extra 




Car on a Special Spur TPvAck 



Pa^e 19 



wwm^ 






'j:$l'1 



M^^M^^^^K 



Young People'* Meeting at CaPv 



Page G.") 



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I9 

track to be found in every small town. The fact 
of hauling the car did not bother the officials much ; 
it was the question of how they could allow us to 
be on a side-track for any great length of time with- 
out seriously hindering them in the prosecution 
of their business. It is generally known among 
shippers and those who receive much freight, that 
the company charges two dollars for every twenty- 
four hours after the first forty-eight hours that a 
loaded box car is left on the track, and oftentimes 
ten dollars for a theatre or circus car. Thus you 
see that the railroads are very considerate to allow 
us to stay at all. It is only because of their desire 
to do all they can to help on a good cause. 

Noting this difficulty I conferred with the officials, 
and asked them if they could not have their section 
men build a short spur from the side-track and run 
my car on to it, then swing the side-track back into 
place and leave the chapel car on rails of its own, 
out of the way of all traffic. 

In answer to my request orders were given to 
have it done. It costs the company about eight 
dollars to build the track and take it up again when 
we leave town. We have offered to pay for it but 
they have never sent in any bill yet, and they 
have done this for us many times. This spur is 
only built when we stay in a town a long time, 
in order to erect a church or make the work per- 
manent. It certainly obviates the difficulty and 
makes it far more pleasant for the missionaries and 
the railroad men. 



20 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

All of this goes to show that if the railroad com- 
panies understand what our service really is there 
is hardly any limit to what they will do for us. 
Many, many times they have contributed much 
more than transportation to the building up of the 
new towns on their lines. They have hauled the 
lumber for the church buildings in carload lots free, 
a number of times, and in other ways have shown 
their interest in our work. 

When we stop to think that for fifteen years 
they have hauled our cars free, nearly fifty dif- 
ferent railroads thus assisting us, and also realize 
how much this would have cost if we had paid 
mileage even at a reduced rate, I for one feel pro- 
foundly grateful to them, and I know if we could 
get into one mass meeting all of the people in the 
towns where the chapel cars have visited, together 
with the whole Baptist denomination, they would 
to an individual arise to vote most hearty thanks 
to these railroad corporations. We certainly do 
appreciate it. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Our experiences with the railway companies 
in this matter of transportation reveal much that 
pleases us. 

(i) That God is leading. (2) That the railway 
companies are interested in the moral welfare of 
their employees and the towns along the line. 
(3) That the officials of the companies recognize it 
is a fair business proposition to haul our cars free 



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 21 

in consideration of the work done. (4) That the 
railway companies acknowledge the power of the 
chapel-car service in developing their new towns in 
the right direction. (5) That practical railway 
men do not deem our work at all visionary or un- 
practical. (6) That many of our great transporta- 
tion companies are manned by men of character 
and sterling worth who are interested in every 
good cause. 



Ill 

DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 

IN this department we will endeavor to introduce 
our readers to something of our home life 
while on the chapel car. The parsonage on 
the car is fitted up to live in every day as one would 
in a home ; it is not simply to travel in. We have 
given the size of our apartments. The main living 
room, which is bedroom, study, parlor, and dining 
room, has just nine square feet of open space. The 
kitchen is four and one-half feet square, and in this 
there is a steel range, an ice chest, and a china closet. 
One will easily see that the parsonage is compressed 
and condensed into the smallest space possible, so 
that the audience room could be made as large as 
possible. Many times we have had visitors from 
cities come to the car and they have exclaimed, 
''Oh, how romantic, how delightful to travel like 
this ! " They have in mind a trip of a few days 
rather than making the car a home. 

Nevertheless, when we have been side-tracked in 
some small town in the Minnesota woods or on Da- 
kota prairies, and have seen how the people are 
obliged to live in their small shanties and houses, 
we have often thanked God for the small yet cozy 
quarters in our home on wheels. 

22 



DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 23 

At first we found it rather hard to adjust our- 
selves to the size of our apartments. Everything 
seemed to be in the way and we were always in 
each other's way. We were both liable to do 
everything a little too quickly, and this gave us no 
end of trouble. We found we did not have room 
to jump from one thing to another unless we took 
very short leaps. At the end of the first three 
months we had numberless bruises, because of our 
running into sharp corners and things in general. 
I hit my knee on one door jamb, and my head on 
one corner so often during the first year that I was 
never without either a sore head or a lame knee. 
Once when rushing from the parsonage to the 
chapel I struck my head so hard on the small closet 
near the door, that I dropped to the floor like a 
felled ox and almost lost consciousness. I know it 
was my fault, I should not move so quickly. I have 
thought these accidents may have done some good, 
however, by rousing some lazy brain cells into 
activity. 

I do not want to present any darker picture of 
chapel-car domestic life than I ought, for we have 
often been exceedingly grateful for our beautiful 
quarters in the car. However, the parsonage on 
the car could hardly be called a home. It was 
more of a business office for the Lord's busy mis- 
sionaries. We had practically no privacy. A 
woman would feel this more than a man perhaps. 
It was exceedingly hard for Mrs. Rust. We were 
seldom allowed to be alone. Mrs. Rust had no 



24 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

room or closet she could call her own, no dresser 
on which to lay pins, ribbons, and numerous other 
belongings. The only place was my desk, and I 
needed that for other things. She had no rocking- 
chair, no sewing machine, etc. It was good dis- 
cipline for us and tested our religion. We prayed 
for special grace and wisdom every day in our en- 
deavor to fit into the demands of the place and 
the work. 

When I think of all that Mrs. Rust was obliged 
to pass through in order to stay with me on the 
chapel car for the first three years, I feel thoroughly 
ashamed of myself to think that I allowed her to 
do it. I was young, and perhaps that can partially 
excuse me for my lack of consideration. 

All mothers who read this will appreciate what I 
am about to write. For the first few months we 
got along very nicely ; the ordinary difficulties en- 
countered in adjusting ourselves to the car home 
and its work did not bother us much, but before 
little Ruth came into our lives Mrs. Rust had much 
to bear. The constant traveling, the meeting of 
strangers continually, and the hard work in and 
out of the meetings made it almost unbearable for 
her. In less than two months after the coming of 
our first-born, Mrs. Rust and Ruth were with me 
in my car work, part of the time living on the 
car and part of the time in a room outside. We 
wanted to be together, but we wonder whether we 
did right or not. It seems as if we did not. The care 
of a child in such close quarters was very hard on 







Ruth and Mar.tohie Rust 



Page 2o 



DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 25 

US and was not good for Ruth. How I ever wrote 
my sermons I do not know. How Mrs. Rust ever 
endured the strain of cooking, caring for baby, and 
helping in the meetings is more than I can explain. 
At night Ruth slept in a hammock swung between 
the berths, and Mrs. Rust occupied the lower, while 
I took the upper. 

But this could not go on indefinitely. The 
chapel car was no place to bring up children. So 
we have had a home in St. Paul and Minneapolis for 
the last eight years, and the Publication Society 
has allowed me enough extra money each year to 
permit my engaging any one whom I may choose to 
assist me. Mrs. Rust has been at home the larger 
part of the time, but has assisted me on the car 
much and in our meetings with city churches during 
some of the winter months. 

My life away from loved ones and home has made 
me sympathize with the great host of traveling men. 
There was a time when I could stay away much 
longer than I can now. Home is dearer to me than 
ever. I am so glad I have one, and that I have 
children, not only for my own personal joy but be- 
cause it helps me in my work. I have often said that 
a young man cannot preach as he ought to until he is 
married and has children. How can we feel what a 
father feels until we are fathers ? Oh, how many 
times I have felt the great throbbing heart of my 
heavenly Father yearning for his children erring in 
sin, as I have been conscious of my love and anxiety 
for my own little ones. 



26 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

My heart was wounded deeply once after return- 
ing from a long trip to find my child did not know 
me. And once again, when little Ruth met me at 
the door and said soon after, *'How long are you 
going to stay, papa ? '' and then, *'When are you 
going home again ? '^ She thought the chapel car 
was my real home and I had only come to visit her. 

Home life on the chapel car is often disturbed. 
You never know just what is to happen. If the 
car is not on a special spur of its own it must be 
switched nearly every day and night. During one 
night last summer we were switched five times, and 
handled quite roughly. I remember that my head 
was severely banged against the end of my berth. 

The railroad men always handle the car as 
quietly as possible, but when it is between freight 
cars and these cars must be switched, then ours 
must be handled with the others. I would like to 
have some neat housewife who prides herself on 
daintiness, see our refrigerator after a switching 
crew had banged our car up and down the track for 
a half-hour. Such a sight. Milk, potatoes, jelly, 
pickles, all together. Do you not think that such 
experiences would be conducive to the sweetening 
of dispositions ? This would often occur when we 
were away from the car. We would never know 
the exact moment when the engine would couple 
on so that we could be prepared. I remember that 
Ruth was sitting in my lap once and the freight 
train (they sometimes hauled the car on such trains) 
stopped suddenly and threw us over against the 



DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 27 

door very hard, bruising us quite severely. Once 
the engine struck our car with terrific force, and 
the desk looked like a great waste basket, only 
worse. There was ink, mucilage, envelopes, 
papers, books, etc., all in a heap. These were 
good opportunities to prove that one can keep sweet 
under the most adverse circumstances. 

Mrs. Rust enjoyed the same privileges about her 
kitchen work. We were on the end of a long 
freight train one day, when she said, ** Put up the 
table for dinner, please, we are about ready.'' I 
started to get the table, when the train gave a sud- 
den lurch and knocked me against my desk, jam- 
ming my hand, and that dinner was sent from the 
kitchen stove, away under the desk in the library. 
At another time Mrs. Rust was getting breakfast on 
an oil stove. I saw a switch engine coming, and 
was sure it was going to strike hard. I rushed in, 
and in Yankee style yelled *' Look out, Bertha, its 
coming." She looked out the window to see what 
was coming, and just then the engine struck the 
car, and away went the entire breakfast on the 
kitchen floor. We lived on ''force " that morning. 

I remember another occasion when Uncle Boston 
was with us, and Mrs. Rust had cooked a very nice 
omelet. We had seated ourselves at the table and 
Mrs. Rust was about to serve the omelet, when in 
trying to turn quickly in that little kitchen she hit 
her elbow against something, and the dish being 
overturned the omelet went to the floor. We had 
*' dropped eggs " that morning. 



28 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

But there is another side to this story of the 
chapel-car parsonage. We have often been in 
towns where we could not get a clean place to 
sleep or eat. How happy we were as we occupied 
our comfortable berths, with springs and soft mat- 
tresses and no little pests to bother us, and when 
we could sit down to a table of our own and eat a 
dainty lunch or full dinner that Mrs. Rust knows so 
well how to serve. 

I will not attempt to tell you how I have fared 
when Mrs. Rust was not with me. Judging by the 
hideous dreams that have haunted my night slum- 
bers, and the dyspeptic pains that have racked 
my body, I am conscious that the story of my own 
cooking would be too sad, therefore I will leave 
that out of this treatise on domestic science. How- 
ever, let me add that we have this science in small 
apartments nearly perfected, and if any newly 
married young woman wants to know how to cook 
for and manage her husband in the smallest city flat, 
let her. write to Mrs. Rust, and for a small com- 
pensation she will mail her rules. 

In this chapter perhaps I had better tell how the 
missionary cares for the chapel as well as the par- 
sonage. We were on a line in Wisconsin when the 
division superintendent called on us. After looking 
the entire car over and admiring its equipment he 
said, '* Mr. Rust, who takes care of your hot water 
heater during the winter months ? " I answered 
'' The missionaries.'* And ** Who is janitor ? " he 
inquired. I answered, '*The missionaries." And 



DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE 29 

**Who does your cooking?'' he still inquired. I 
answered, ** The missionaries." ** Why," he said, 
** do you mean to say that you have no porter to 
clean up or cook or fill the lamps or wash the 
floors ? " I answered ** No." He seemed amazed, 
for in all the business cars of the railroad they car- 
ried one or two porters. The chapel-car missionary 
is expected to be preacher, singer, cook, car- 
cleaner, janitor, fireman, and anything else that 
God wants him to do. He must be above nothing 
— no task too ordinary for him. 

When I have an assistant on the car he of course 
helps in all the janitor work. The care of the 
heater has meant much anxiety to us during these 
years, and at first I worried a great deal, as it was 
new to me and I did not understand the air-tight 
hot water system of heating, and then the railroad 
men rather frightened me. They told me if I had too 
heavy a fire on it would surely blow up, and if it 
should be very cold weather, and I did not have 
fire enough on, the water would not circulate fast 
enough, and it would be liable to freeze and the 
heater would then blow up. So between the two 
difficulties with the hot water I was kept constantly 
in hot water. 

I remember my first March on the car. We were 
at Cooperstown, North Dakota. The heater began 
to bother, water did not circulate, and therefore 
generated steam. I pulled the fire out, and as it 
was getting intensely cold, decided to allow what 
water was in the pipes to run out, but to my 



30 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

dismay only a small amount would flow out. The 
railroad men tried to help but we could not get 
it all out, and as the weather was twenty-four be- 
low zero the next morning, Mrs. Rust and I were 
awakened by bursting pipes. I was almost frantic. 
I thought it would cost a large sum of money to 
repair them, and I told Mrs. Rust I was positively 
sure that the Publication Society would discharge 
me. We moved to a room in a near-by home and 
the car was sent to the shops. Much to my sur- 
prise and greatly to my relief, the car was soon 
back, and they reported that the damage was not 
very great, and no bill was ever sent to the So- 
ciety. During the past few years, however, I have 
understood it better, and have known about what 
to do in an emergency, although it has needed 
constant attention, and we could not be away over 
night during the cold weather. 

I think that all of my assistants will agree with 
me that the cleaning of the audience room has at 
times been exceedingly unpleasant. I am sorry to 
be obliged to write that after meetings in some com- 
munities the floor at the rear end of the chapel has 
been filthy with tobacco spit. I do not care to 
describe what hard work we have had to keep it 
clean. However, from what some of the mission- 
aries in the other cars have told me, our expe- 
riences have been nothing compared to theirs. But 
taking it altogether with our mental labor, this 
caring for the car has been good for us, as it has 
given us a little exercise every day. 



IV 

COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 

THE territory in which our chapel cars have 
been used lies for the most part west of the 
Mississippi River, although some work has 
been done in Wisconsin, and we have one car in 
Michigan. Our headquarters with ** Glad Tidings " 
have been in the twin cities, St. Paul and Minne- 
apolis, and we have used our car in the country 
which is within a radius of about four hundred 
miles from Minneapolis, thus taking in the States 
of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, and Nebraska. 

Some of the readers of this story are perfectly 
familiar with the conditions that do exist, and have 
existed in the West for the past twenty-five or 
fifty years ; others who have lived in the East all 
their lives can hardly realize the great need for ag- 
gressive pioneer work which has been and is now 
evident there. Seventy -five years ago there was 
not one American settlement west of Missouri, and 
Chicago, the great inland metropolis of our country, 
was a village of a few log cabins. 

To pass through the great West now and note 
the progress everywhere evident, blinds one to the 
actual conditions that did exist such a few years 

31 



32 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

ago. In towns of one thousand to five thousand 
people we find that the streets are paved, stone 
sidewalks abound, systems of electric and gas 
lighting are in use, streets are piped for sewer and 
gas, great department stores with modern equip- 
ments invite the patronage of customers, elegant 
and commodious church and school buildings 
abound, and automobiles run the streets. Yet 
within eight miles from towns like this I can show 
you smaller settlements with no churches, or if 
any churches, weak and dying ones. New towns 
are forming constantly, and the country for fifty 
miles from the railroad track is settling up. 

Many of the people who settle away from the 
railroads are foreigners, but others are from Eastern 
towns, where they have enjoyed the privileges of 
close neighbors and church and good schools. They 
have come out West to grow up with the country, 
purchasing the land very cheaply, or homesteading. 
They are often so homesick and lonely that they 
cannot endure it. We were told that many women 
on the prairies had, through melancholia and lone- 
liness, gone insane. How many times I have 
listened to heart-breaking stories of what some of 
the early settlers endured. In fact all of them were 
obliged to suffer much. 

I well remember a talk I had with a good Baptist 
brother who pioneered in South Dakota about 
twenty-four years ago. He went out in September 
with another man, and they slept out in the open 
with no shelter but the sky for a while, until they 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 33 

could get a *' shack '' erected. He told me of the 
terrible blizzard of October that year. He and his 
companion were caught in the ** shack" without 
food or fuel, and were obliged to go to bed with 
their clothes on and try to keep warm under the 
blankets, while the snow whirled and the wind 
howled for three days and nights. He then told 
me of his continued struggles until he got a little 
ahead, of his starting a small country store, of his 
bringing his new wife to the lonely place, and of 
business reverses and sickness, until I felt as if I 
had never endured anything very hard. He was 
trying to be faithful to his Lord, he and his wife, 
and helped build the little Baptist meeting-house, 
and had kept the Sunday-school running, doing 
their best to aid in keeping a pastor on the field 
most of the time. When I was there he was help- 
ing to get the new parsonage built and had prom- 
ised fifty dollars toward it, besides his labor ; yet 
he and his wife told me that they could not afford 
to build a new home for themselves until they had 
finished the parsonage, and they were then living 
in the little old house that had been their prairie 
home for so many years. How my heart went out 
to them as the tears flowed down the cheeks of 
that faithful wife, as she said, '* I do hope I can 
have a new home some day — I have worked so 
hard and waited so long." Dear, noble souls, so 
full of sacrifice for their Master, how glad I was to 
tell them God knew and appreciated it all ; how 
happy I was to stop a few days and encourage 

C 



34 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

them. As we parted and they thanked me, I 
praised God for the privilege of going as a colporter 
missionary to help such faithful servants of God. 

This Western country where the chapel cars and 
colportage wagons go is filled with hundreds of 
men, women, and children, who have endured 
much and are still struggling on. They have been 
miles from the railroad, from physicians, and stores, 
have been obliged to get along almost anyway 
they could, sometimes hauling their grain from 
twenty to fifty miles to market. I met some only 
last year in South Dakota who were downhearted 
because the year before the hailstorms had destroyed 
their crops, and that year rust — ** black rust " — had 
spoiled their wheat, and they could get nothing 
toward paying the mortgage on the farm. 

It certainly was discouraging to find that after 
the threshing was done there was barely enough 
good grain to pay for having it threshed. It was 
my privilege to sympatize with and encourage them, 
by telling them as I pointed to their beloved chil- 
dren, they are worth living for, and that their Chris- 
tian example before them was accomplishing much, 
even if the mortgage could not be lessened this 
year. How many hundreds I have met on the 
Western plains and in the woods of Minnesota and 
Wisconsin who need the loving ministry of the 
missionary. 

The large and far-reaching work of the American 
Baptist Publication Society, as manifested by all 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 35 

branches of its missionary activities, is summed up 
and briefly expressed in one word, namely, ** CON- 
TACT." There is a God and we are his creatures. 
Every human being is one of his own creatures. 
God loves the world, every individual. He has a 
message to send. The gospel is that message. We 
have received it. Upon receiving it he lovingly 
commands us, ** Go ye into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature." 

Our God does not secrete himself in some dark 
recess of some remote corner of his universe, thus 
making it hard for his creatures to reach him with 
their cries for help. On the other hand he takes 
the initiative, and in love he sends to his creatures 
the expressions of his heart and will through the 
best Book in the world and the personal Christ. 
The genius of the gospel demands that all who re- 
ceive it should have the same spirit. It is not 
enough for a God to exist, for his Book to be in the 
world, but God wants to get into direct contact 
with every one of his creatures. To accomplish 
this he has ordained that we who have received 
him with his truth into our lives should be his mes- 
sengers to carry the gospel to the individual soul. 
The American Baptist Publication Society is but a 
medium through which the followers of Christ, and 
particularly that body of believers known as Bap- 
tists, can by means of the agencies of the chapel 
car, colportage wagon, Sunday-school missionary, 
and the printed page, in a very special and effect- 
ive way reach the needy individual. 



36 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

The Society recognizes that it is not enough to 
have commodious and substantial buildings well 
stocked with books and material, nor an army of 
men and women to print periodicals and Bibles and 
papers by the million ; these messages on the 
printed page must be gotten into contact with the 
eye and the mind of the single man, no matter 
where he is. 

It is not enough for Christians to have warm 
hearts, to be happy in their own salvation, to enjoy 
each other's fellowship. They must be messen- 
gers of God and go out to every nook and corner 
of this earth, and with hearts aglow with the love 
for God and man, reach out the individual living 
hand to the lost one and speak forth with a living 
voice the words of life to the individual. That is 
CONTACT. It matters not how evangelical our 
faith is nor how devout our lives are ; if we are not 
actually getting into vital touch with the lonely, 
discouraged, sin-cursed, heartbroken man or wo- 
man, boy or girl, we are not executing the will 
of our Lord. 

Because the Society understands its commission 
and feels the responsibility of this call of God and 
humanity, our presses are kept running six days in 
the week, scores of clerks are busy, many editors 
are devoting their entire time, our secretaries are 
putting their life into their work, six branch houses 
are kept open, fifty-two colportage wagons have 
been built, six chapel cars are on the steel rails, 
and one hundred and forty-four live missionaries 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 37 

are working sometimes night and day. Contact is 
the word. God in us. The soul near at hand or 
miles away that needs God. Space between. We 
must annihilate that distance. Nothing must inter- 
vene. Faith in God, in his message, in the capacity 
of man to receive, must conquer all reluctance. 
Whatever else is left undone that soul must get the 
message. No obstacles or difficulties should block 
the way. No sacrifice can be counted too great in 
order to accomplish the result. 

When Gordon Bennett had his final talk with 
Henry M. Stanley just before that explorer was to 
start on his long and perilous journey across Africa's 
dark continent in search of Livingstone, he told 
him that money was nothing ; *' Count not the thou- 
sands of pounds you may need," but remember 
you are to ''go and find Livingstone," and finally 
he summed up his whole command, with the two 
words, ''Find him." He must not be satisfied 
with hearing about him, or getting near him or 
knowing he was alive. He must accomplish more 
than that. He must get to him. Touch him. 
Look into his face. Feel the pressure of his hand. 
Talk with him personally. Yes, he must get into 
"contact " with him. 

Thus our blessed Lord stands with us and says, 
Remember the one goal of your ministry. Find 
him. Go anywhere, everywhere — to the farthest 
end of the earth, to the lonely home out on the 
Western prairie and find your man. Put the 

word" into his hand with your own hand. 



it 



38 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

Touch him yourself — not by proxy but in actual 
reality. 

This is the colportage department of the 
chapel-car service. We are not to sit in our 
beautiful parsonage and church on wheels and 
simply call the public to our services, although there 
is great power in pulpit work, and I would not for 
one moment minimize the place of public preaching 
in the extension of God's kingdom. But there is 
something more to do and nothing can take the 
place of it. We are to go to the homes, to the places 
of business, to the single man or woman, and, meet- 
ing them alone, seek to get them to receive the 
blessed message of salvation and life through Jesus 
Christ. After all, the individual is the unit of power. 
No matter what place God has for reaching many 
in public services, I am convinced that he wants 
more personal work with individuals. How many 
hundreds of miles I have traveled on foot or bicycle 
through the country surrounding the town where 
our car was side-tracked, calling at home after 
home, seeking to tell all of God's love and his de- 
sire to save and help. All pastors know that there 
is no more fruitful part of the ministry than this 
personal work. 

In our chapel-car life we do recognize the value 
of *'sole " work. I refer now to the sole on each 
shoe. One of the mottoes of my life is expressed 
in a daily prayer of mine, *' Lord, make me a help 
to some ONE to-day." I could fill many pages of 
this book with the record of the sweet, yea heavenly 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 39 

experiences which have come to my own soul as I 
have sought to fulfil this prayer. 

I wonder if you, dear reader, have read Ralph 
Connor's latest book, '*The Prospector.'' If you 
have you will remember the touching scene in the 
home of Shock McGregor, who had responded to 
the call from God through the Presbyterian super- 
intendent of missions, to go at the close of his col- 
lege course into the wild regions of Northwestern 
Canada to work for the salvation of sinful men 
and women, and to establish a permanent work if 
possible. You will recall how that noble Scotch 
mother gave up her boy for God's work, although 
it nearly broke her heart. You cannot read of 
those last hours together without tears coming to 
your eyes, and yet you are proud of that mother 
and her boy. Why that sacrifice ? Simply that 
the gospel story might be told by a living repre- 
sentative directly to the needy one. If there was 
to be contact Shock must go and the mother must 
say ''Yes." How beautifully she did it — and I 
know some real mothers too, who have done it. 

Then do you remember Shock's arrival at the 
station in the town where the convener who had 
charge of the church in that district lived, and of 
his farewell to the convener the next day as he 
struck out on the trail toward his field ? And how 
he stopped at a hut about noon and found an old 
man there who offered him whisky to drink, think- 
ing he was accustomed to imbibing that kind of a 
beverage. Did you notice how Shock got into con- 



40 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

tact with that sinful man ? Did you study how 
tactfully he worked his way into living touch with 
the deepest heart feelings of that lonely wretch of 
a man ? How he won him from an angry, loud- 
mouthed attitude to a quiet, heart talk ? Can you 
not see them in that shanty sitting down to dinner 
together and Shock winning him to more confidence 
in himself every minute, as he tells of his mother 
and his own life ? And then the old man tells a 
sad, sad story of his career in sin and elicits all the 
pity and sympathy that Shock possessed. Do you 
remember they stopped just a moment when each 
was thinking so seriously, and Shock reached forth 
that strong hand of his and grasped the hand of the 
old man in a grip of love and looked into his 
despairing face and said, *'What you want is a 
friend, a real good friend ? '' I can see the look on 
the face of that lonely soul as he answered, 'Td 
give all I have for one,'' and the bright, hopeful 
look on Shock's face as he said, '* Let me tell you 
about mine," and then proceeded for a half-hour to 
pour into that man's ears the story of a Saviour, 
God manifest in the flesh, who had come to earth 
to prove he was our friend and that he would for- 
give, save, and help us every day. 

Words fail to express my feelings as I read this 
incident, for before me there came very vividly the 
picture of the many, many lonely, sinful ones whom 
I had met out on the prairies and in the woods of 
the West, and to whom I had carried the message 
of the same divine Friend. 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 41 

Let me also emphasize the power of the personal 
hand-touch. Do you recall how many times Ralph 
Connor refers to and forcibly exalts the influence 
of the touch of Shock's hand ? How every one he 
met and shook hands with felt the thrill of that 
hand and spoke of it ? I believe in the author's 
exaltation of the great power of the consecrated 
hand in the work of Christ's kingdom. To cor- 
roborate this fact one should read what Helen 
Keller wrote in the '* Century " recently : 

The hand-shake of some people makes you think of acci- 
dent and sudden death. Contrast this ill-boding hand with 
the quick, skilful, quiet hand of a nurse whom I remember 
with affection, because she took the best care of my teacher. 
I have clasped the hand of some rich people that spin not and 
toil not, and yet are not beautiful. Beneath their soft, smooth 
roundness what a chaos of undeveloped character ! 

All this is my private science of palmistry, and when I tell 
your fortune it is by no mysterious intuition of Gypsy witch- 
craft, but by natural, explicable recognition of the embossed 
character in your hand. Not only is the hand as easy to 
recognize as the face, but it reveals its secrets more openly 
and unconsciously. People control their countenances but 
the hand is under no such restraint. It relaxes and becomes 
listless when the spirit is low and dejected ; the muscles 
tighten when the mind is excited or the heart glad, and 
permanent qualities stand written on it all the time. 

Who could know the power of a hand-shake 
more than she } I am assured that there are few 
individuals anywhere who would not respond to the 
hearty hand-clasp of one whose heart was on fire 
with the love of Christ for lost men and women. 



42 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

Contact with such a hand revives and awakens, 
cheers and helps, and makes the cold and deadened 
souls conscious that Christ is a living reality. This 
is what the world needs and the missionary seeks 
to meet it as he goes from home to home and 
individual to individual. 

I wish it were possible for all of my readers to 
take a trip on the chapel car and stop at some small 
town, and in addition to holding meetings every 
day go with me into the homes of the people 
throughout the country. Only last fall my assist- 
ant and I borrowed a horse and buggy one after- 
noon and started on a trip, making a circuit of 
about fifteen miles and calling at nine or ten homes. 
We came away from each house after reading from 
the Bible and praying, and speaking words of en- 
couragement, feeling that God had used us to carry 
some light into those darkened homes. 

I remember particularly one family we met. The 
husband had been to the chapel-car meeting, but 
the mother could not because she was obliged to 
stay at home and take care of four little ones, all 
under seven years of age. They were very poor, 
were living on a small piece of rented land, had lost 
about all of the crop that year, and of course were 
somewhat discouraged. They were exceedingly 
glad to see us and we found them Christian people. 
Their children were bright little jewels, and I told 
the parents that some day they would shine some- 
where for the Master, and if they did nothing more 
than to raise those boys and girls to youth, under 



COLPORTAGE DEPARTMENT 43 

the blessed influence of a genuine Christian par- 
entage, and see them all serving God, they had 
accomplished much. We prayed that God would 
help that father and mother thus to train their 
children and grant them his choicest blessings every 
day. As we left we were sure that they had ap- 
preciated our visit and our hearts were happy as we 
drove away. 

Let me record another incident of the blessing 
and power of the personal touch. During a series 
of meetings in a Wisconsin town I heard one night 
that a certain family had a very sick boy. At first 
I had no thought that we had anything on the car 
that could be used to help them, and retired, pray- 
ing for the little boy of course, but not conscious 
that we had that which might be used to help an- 
swer our prayer. Before going to sleep I was 
aroused by the thought that we had just what he 
needed, and although the snow was quite deep, and 
the family lived one and one-half miles from the 
car, I decided to get up and dress and go over with 
the medicine. When I arrived there I found all of 
the family up and very anxious about the boy. I 
told them I was anxious too, sympathized with 
them, and gave them the medicine I had brought. 
We knelt in prayer and left it with our loving Lord. 
How much good the medicine did the boy I know 
not, but I know that trip did me good. I was so 
happy that the return home through the snow with 
the pure white at my feet and the stars above was 
to me a walk through the streets of heaven, and I 



44 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

am also confident that the hearts of those parents 
and that family were close to mine. 

The boy got well and soon after I called there, 
praying that God would help me to lead them all 
to a knowledge of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. I 
found the entire family of father and mother and 
five children at home. They gave me a chair in 
the center of the group. I told them I was glad the 
boy was better, and that they had been to the 
meetings, and talked on a few moments. As I 
looked up I saw that both of the parents were in 
tears, and I asked, *' Are you not ready to kneel 
with me and ask God to forgive and save you and 
give you strength faithfully to serve him } '' I 
asked each older child and the parents personally, 
and as they answered ''Yes," we knelt, and to- 
gether they ** yielded'* to Christ. About five 
months after that I baptized four of them and they 
are stanch members of a little Baptist church. 

Seldom have we visited a town without being 
conscious of God's special blessing on every effort 
to go out into the homes and by personal appeal 
seek to help those for whom Christ lived and died. 
Heaven alone will reveal how many lonely hearts 
have been cheered, how many dark lives bright- 
ened, how many lives and souls helped and won in 
this department of chapel-car service. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S 
DEPARTMENT 

IT is not my purpose to make this chapter an ad- 
dress on the place of the Sunday-school and 
young people's work in our modern religious 
activities, but rather to set before you a few of our 
ideals and inspirations, and to inform you as to 
what part the chapel car has in this blessed service. 
While this may fall into the hands of some critics 
of the Sunday-school of to-day, yet I am convinced 
that the larger company of my readers need no 
extended arguments to prove to them the im- 
portance of this ever-growing department in our 
religious life. 

The place and power of the Sunday Bible-school 
have been established beyond any possibility of 
doubt. Practically all believe in it. We recognize 
it to be the nursery of the church and a potent 
factor in the onward march of Christianity. Nearly 
fifteen millions of our youth are enjoying and profit- 
ing by its training to-day, and millions and mil- 
lions of boys and girls have grown into Christian 
manhood and womanhood because of their con- 
nection with it. In hundreds of instances the or- 
ganization of a Sunday-school has brought about 

45 



46 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

the organization of a church, the building of a 
meeting-house, and the settling of a pastor. 

Some of the most trustworthy members and 
honored deacons and trustees of our churches of 
to-day, who have served the Lord faithfully and 
efficiently as they have loyally supported the work 
of Christ, bear cheerful testimony that they were 
won to Christ while they were members of the 
Sunday-school. 

Our Society is known as the great Sunday- 
school Society of the denomination, and while we 
have not been able to put the time and thought to its 
development that our many efficient Sunday-school 
missionaries have, yet we have ever sought to up- 
lift its standards and inaugurate its work when it 
has been possible. During the first two or three 
years of our chapel-car experience the scope of our 
work in a number of instances was measured by 
visits to very small towns, with the result of a few 
conversions and the organization of a Sunday- 
school. Many times we found that in these towns 
was no moral influence whatever. Some of the 
places could hardly be called towns. There would 
be a station, a store, a saloon, and two or three 
houses, oftentimes not so many buildings as these. 

I remember that during our first winter on the 
car Mrs. Rust and I were side-tracked on a lonely 
siding in the Minnesota woods where there was not 
even a station. Surely this was exactly the kind 
of a place in which a church on wheels ought to be. 
No words can describe to you what the car meant 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 47 

to those people. There were but six or eight 
houses in sight, but when the time for the evening 
meeting came the people began to file in through 
the doorway, and to our surprise the car was full. 

How eagerly they listened and took in the gos- 
pel message in word and song ! We were there 
only a few days, but hearts were touched and a 
Sunday-school of some forty scholars was organ- 
ized, and papers and quarterlies donated by our 
society were distributed. 

I have never forgotten that little spot nor the 
picture of the bright faces of those boys and girls. 
One girl in particular we remember. She seemed 
very intelligent and susceptible, and we were con- 
fident that she yielded her young life to Christ 
during our meetings. How pleased I was one Sun- 
day when preaching in Calvary Baptist Church, 
Minneapolis, to have a tall, young woman come to 
me and tell me that she was the girl who gave her 
life to Christ in the meetings in that little place 
eight years before, and she had been striving to be 
a faithful Christian ever since. She also said that 
now she was a member of a Baptist church in a 
large town and was a teacher in the public schools. 
The training of that one life was worth our effort 
and the effort of that Sunday-school. It is true 
that in many communities throughout the West 
the one center of moral influence for all who live 
for miles around, is the Sunday-school which is or- 
ganized by the Sunday-school or chapel-car mis- 
sionary. I have many times feared that there was 



48 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

a danger of looseness in our methods of organizing 
these schools. I am afraid that we have accepted 
quite low standards of a Christian Sunday-school 
in some instances. We are sure that in the mind 
of our Lord this wonderful institution is more than 
a Sunday social club or literary society, with the 
Bible as the principal book to study. If we go into 
a community where there are practically no con- 
fessing Christians, it is not to be expected that the 
people there will have correct ideas of the Sunday- 
school. However, we are not to lower the standard 
to their conception of it, no matter how imperative 
the need for such a school is. 

I fully recognize the difficulties in the way, and 
the poor material which the Lord has from which 
to make a true and efficient school, but I believe 
the missionary fails if he in his anxiety to multiply 
schools and for lack of time stops but one Sunday, 
and with what he has, regardless of condition or 
ideals, organizes what would be called a Sunday- 
school. In many instances it is anything but a 
Christian school. I firmly believe that one school 
on an intelligent and Christian foundation, and or- 
ganized well, is far better than many schools or- 
ganized quickly and with no solid moral underpin- 
ning to hold them up. 

We are convinced that the missionary should 
stay and hold a series of meetings. He should call 
at the homes, and work hard publicly and person- 
ally toward the conversion of adults and young 
people. Yes, stay long enough to have the people 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 49 

clearly see the dignity and exalted ideals which 
rightfully belong to a Christian Bible-school. Then, 
under God's blessing, he can organize something 
that will stand the test of time. The future of the 
Sunday-school will depend largely upon what ideas 
the people have of such a school, therefore it is of 
the utmost importance that God's ideas, true Chris- 
tian ideas, be imbedded in their minds at its incep- 
tion. The missionary has this in his power to do. 

While it may be impossible in some instances, 
yet I believe that in nearly every community 
in this country it is possible to invite the people 
kindly to gather for gospel meetings, boldly and lov- 
ingly to preach of their need of Christ, as sinners, 
and his willingness to save and to lead many in 
that town or community to the acceptance of Jesus 
Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. Then meet 
to organize the school after talking and praying 
with individuals about what part God would have 
them take in the work. After explaining what a 
Bible-school really implies, namely, that the study 
of the Scriptures is no trifling matter, that the train- 
ing of the boys and girls is of great importance, and 
that it is preeminently a Christian institution ; 
then in quiet solemnity have all bow their heads 
and consecrate themselves to the teaching and 
study of the best Book in the world, happily con- 
scious of the blessed work undertaken and that 
God is to give grace to each one for his part. 

To my mind every officer and teacher in the 
school ought to be a Christian if possible. Some- 

D 



50 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

times this is very hard to accomplish. I remember 
one little settlement in the woods where we were 
thinking of organizing a Sunday-school, and won- 
dering who would be the best one to place at the 
head as superintendent. I asked some one, '* Who 
would make a good superintendent ? '' They said 

'* The smartest man around here is Mr. J ; you 

had better secure him.'' 

When I inquired more about him I found that 
he was a very profane and sinful man. Now they 
honestly thought that ** smartness '' was the pri- 
mary qualification for a superintendent. It had 
evidently never dawned upon them that he would 
not be exactly fit for that position. At best they 
thought they would get along with his example and 
allow him to be superintendent. I was very grate- 
ful that some people were converted and we were 
able to get a much more suitable spiritual leader for 
the people of that community. 

This Bible-school question is a live one and de- 
serves our time and best thought. If you wish to 
become an efificient worker in this department of 
our aggressive church activity you can secure val- 
uable help in the books published by our Society. 
Uncle Boston's "Spicy Breezes" will give you 
many excellent hints and illustrations, as will scores 
of other books. 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S DEPARTMENT 

It becomes my special pleasure to consider this 
feature of our chapel-car life. No brighter spots in 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 5 1 

our evangelistic experiences can be seen than those 
where we have engaged in work with and for the 
young people. Mrs. Rust and I were quite young 
when we entered this service (she was twenty-one 
and I was twenty-four), and we are still young 
and, as Doctor Henson says, ** We never expect to 
get old ; we are going to die first.'' 

There never was a time when we sympathized 
with and believed in the young people as we do to- 
day. As we mingle with them and see them in 
their pleasures and studies and work we always 
pray for power to understand them, to see the world 
as they see it, to feel as they feel, to discriminate, 
to get down deep into their natures, and with true 
heart sympathy for them in their difficulties and 
heartaches, seek most earnestly to be of real help 
to them. 

We do not think that because a girl desires to 
move in step to some fascinating music that she 
thus proves herself to be possessed of a sinful dispo- 
sition, although we can easily see the real danger 
and we endeavor to point it out to her. Nor do we 
conclude that the overflowing vivacity and life, 
which often expresses itself in unpleasant forms, 
is necessarily vulgar and sinful. 

I do thank my God most heartily for the priv- 
ileges which these years have afforded me in get- 
ting into touch with the lives of thousands of young 
people. I have received untold inspiration and help 
from them, and while my heart has ached at times, 
yet the influence of their pure and noble lives will 



52 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

continue as it has, to help me to a noble manhood 
in Jesus Christ. 

If our ministry on the chapel car has been 
fruitful at all I feel that God has caused it to be 
especially fruitful in our work with the boys and 
girls and young people. I have often said that if 
the chapel-car workers were to do nothing more in 
the towns where they stop than to help and win 
and inspire these boys and girls whom God loves, 
it would be money and time well spent. 

A VISION 

God has given to me many visions in recent 
years, many very beautiful ones, including a new 
and enlarged one of himself and of man. He has 
also portrayed upon my mind very vividly the true 
picture of the value of a human life. He enables 
me, as he does you, to look into the future. When 
I look into the face of a boy 1 do not see a devil or 
an angel or a *'kid.'' I see a MAN. When I look 
into the face of a girl I see a woman. I think I can 
truthfully state that I seldom pass a boy or girl on 
the street without seeing this vision at the time I 
meet them. No doubt you remember the story of 
the boy who was in a man's way and bothering him 
considerably. The man told him to move twice, 
but he kept bothering by putting himself exactly 
where the man wanted to be. Finally the man in 
an angry mood said to him, *' Get out of the way. 
What do you amount to anyway ? '' The boy 
looked up in his face and answered, ''Didn't you 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 53 

know that God makes men out of such things as I 
am?" It is true we are dealing with embryonic 
manhood and womanhood when we touch the 
boy and girh Our task and privilege is no insig- 
nificant one. Manhood is in the making and we 
are co-laborers with God in its accomplishment. 
When our little Marjorie was about five years old 
she came home from Sunday-school singing, 

Little buds of promise, 

Oh, so pure and white ; 
Are so very precious 

In the Saviour's sight. 

She is indeed, as every boy and girl is, a bud of 
promise. How many buds of promise we have seen 
blossom into noblest manhood and womanhood. 

At another time she looked into her mother's 
face and said, ''Sometime, mamma, I am going to 
be a bid yady.'* She meant lady. Yes, this is 
true and with every other girl it is the same. 
Whenever I meet them I hear them saying *' some- 
time I am going to be a woman.'' What kind, of 
what character, of what purpose, is the question ? 

We believe that they can, except in rare in- 
stances, be trained into the very best Christian, 
womanhood. Thank God for what the gospel has 
done for woman and for the message it brings to 
the girl. In working with young people we are 
dealing with lives as well as souls. There is in- 
spiration in the opportunity to save a life with a 
soul. I would hasten to the side of a dying man 



54 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

who was seventy years of age, and who had lived 
in sin and rebelled against his God all his life ; I 
would tell him that God would forgive and save 
through faith in Jesus Christ ; but 1 would hasten 
more rapidly to the youth or maiden who desired to 
be saved and yield their hearts and lives to Christ, 
to be molded and devoloped by him through time 
and eternity. The old man did not have so much to 
save as the young people. His life had been wasted, 
their lives were presented gladly to the Lord. 

Christianity is more than an escape from hell at 
death into heaven. The religion of Jesus Christ is 
greater than being saved from something. It is 
being saved into something, into a more beautiful, 
noble life on earth and a more beautiful life in 
heaven. That conception of Christianity which 
could allow one to be willing to live a life of selfish- 
ness and sin and receive Christ as Saviour of the 
soul and only the soul just before one dies, cannot 
be tolerated by anything noble in man. 

As we have caught this vision we have ever 
sought to portray it to the young people and give 
them a picture of the Christian life with no frame 
of black around it, but a picture of a life which is 
the brightest, the most attractive, the most wom- 
anly and manly to live, even when it is touched 
here and there with the sombre colors of sacrifice 
and suffering in the Master's cause. 

To this they have responded in hundreds of in- 
stances. They have seen the exceeding sinfulness 
of sin, the need of receiving the personal Christ to 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 55 

save, and the vision of the nobility and grandeur of 
a life given to him and his work with a definite 
purpose in view. At the close of a meeting in a 
large city church a young woman came rushing to 
me and exclaimed, ** O Mr. Rust, I have caught 
a new vision of life and I do want to live it." 
She had hardly finished speaking when a young 
man came and told me the same. 

RESPONSIVENESS 

We are happily conscious that when we work 
with the boys and girls and youth of our land we 
are touching human life at the most responsive age. 
The farther one sails along the river of life the more 
difficult it is to yield to the pleadings of God's 
Spirit. Probably you are well aware that nearly 
all of our church-members became Christians be- 
fore they were twenty years of age. We recog- 
nize that this department of our service is the 
opportunity of our lives and we have tried to im- 
prove it. There are practically no boys and girls 
of ten or twelve years of age who are planning to 
waste their lives in vanity or ruin them in sin. 
Possibly one may find a boy or girl who has been 
brought up in the slums and knows nothing but 
crime, yet these are not normal cases of American 
childhood. As a rule, we are not dealing with that 
kind. I have never met a boy or girl who came 
from an average home who has any thought of 
ruining the life. I find them susceptible to the 
teachings of Jesus, and mostly easy to win. 



56 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

I see no reason why we should not expect them 
to be Christians, and that at a very early age. Of 
course children differ, but with devout Christian 
parents why is it not possible to so train the child 
in the things of God that there will never be a 
time in his life when he does not want to do just 
what God would have him do ? It is true in each 
life there will come a time when there will be a 
definite yielding to Christ as an intelligent being, 
but this will be easy and not after a long and bitter 
fight against a loving God. 

I well remember the time when we were enter- 
tained at a beautiful home in a large Western city. 
The gentleman in this home is one of the influential 
members of the First Baptist Church in that city, 
and prominent in the work of the State. He is now 
nearly sixty years of age. One night he stood in a 
public meeting and said, '* There has never been a 
time in my life when I did not want to do just 
what I believed God wanted me to." When I met 
his dear old mother and saw the picture of that 
noble father, I understood his statement. Oh, for 
more consecrated Christian training for the child 
in the home ! 

I have sometimes considered our young people's 
work under the figure of a ** wheel,'* and have said 
that this department turns the easiest and with the 
least friction. We seldom have to push it or oil it, 
in fact it runs itself if you will only direct it, and 
our effort is to restrain it sometimes so that we can 
take time to explain where it is going. As it turns 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 57 

it reveals a halo of special light around it, and the 
spokes and hub are sparkling with jewels. I would 
that all the wheels of our religious machinery turned 
as easily and beautifully. How we thank God for 
the responsiveness of the young people. How 
many times in the towns where we have been the 
conditions and actions of the adults presented to us 
a picture of a great mountain of sin and indiffer- 
ence, but out from that mountain there have burst 
in spontaneous responsiveness, the faith, love, and 
devotion of the boys and girls. 

At other times sadness and gloom claimed the 
hearts of the missionaries as they beheld the sins of 
the older ones, but the darkness has been bril- 
liantly studded with the gems of light as mani- 
fested in the lives of the young people. We have 
always found the boys and girls very responsive 
to whatever truth we have endeavored to teach, 
but sometimes they were too literal in their inter- 
pretation of the truth taught. Once we were side- 
tracked in a town which was full of wickedness. 
There were saloons and beer barrels all around us. 
During a talk on '* Danger Signals " I had told them 
that I wished that they could write ** danger'' (in 
their mind) over every saloon in the city. They went 
from that car and taking chalk, wrote '* DANGER '* 
on the doors of the saloon, on the sidewalk in front 
of the saloons, and also upon the beer storage houses. 
I truly wish that a law could be passed obliging the 
saloon-keepers to put this word in red letters upon 
the doors of their places of business. 



58 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

I have decided to tell of a few of these young 
people who have so inspired us. 

We were in a little town in Wisconsin. It was a 
wicked place. Sin abounded everywhere. We 
noticed a bright, robust girl of eleven years of age 
sitting in the car. She came every day and watched 
that blackboard and listened to the ''talks." We 
found her parents were very poor. At the end of a 
week she came to me and told me that she wanted 
to give her whole life to God. We prayed together. 
A lofty purpose filled her soul as I talked with her 
about what God wanted to do with her life. She 
determined to be a true Christian, and yielded her- 
self fully to Christ. The following is a letter that she 
wrote me when she was but eleven years of age : 

January 23, 1897. 

Dear Mr. Rust : As you asked us to write to you, I will 
write you a few lines this afternoon. I am so glad the car 
came, for I believe it has helped this town a great deal, and I 
wish it would never go away, although I want it to help 
others as well as it has us. I have learned a great deal since 
you came, and I am very glad for my cards and papers. I am 
so glad that we are going to have a Sunday-school, and I 
will go every Sunday that I can. 

Yes, Mr. Rust, I have given my whole life to Jesus, and he 
may keep it. I remember that you told us that the biggest 
thing that we could steal was to steal our lives from God. I 
will not do that, and I will not swear nor steal nor reject 
Jesus. I learned that the way to have Jesus blot out my bad 
record, was first to tell him I was sorry for my sins, then not 
to lie nor steal nor swear, then to read good books and live 
for Jesus. 

From your true friend, 

EDITH. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 59 

I went back to that town months afterward. 
She was baptized, became secretary and teacher in 
the Sunday-school when she was but twelve years 
of age, and some of the people told me that she 
was the Christian young woman of the whole 
town. It is true that her life in such sinful sur- 
roundings was like a pure white lily growing in a 
bank of mud. 

I had many quiet talks with her, and tried to in- 
spire her to get an education and be something 
more than the girls she knew. She responded that 
she would, and promised to write to me once in six 
months. How pleased we were to get a letter from 
her recently with something enclosed. She had 
worked her way through a normal school in Wis- 
consin and was about to graduate, and this letter 
was an invitation for us to attend the exercises. 
We also noticed on the programme she sent that 
there were eighteen graduates and three orations 
and she was to deliver one of the orations. We 
could not go, but we met her at the station the next 
day. As we met this womanly girl and took her 
hand, and thought of the place from which she 
came, and how she had struggled on to such glori- 
ous achievements, we thanked God for allowing 
us to touch her life in those early days, and also 
felt inspired to live better in days to come. She is 
now a teacher in the public schools. 

I recall the time when a girl of eighteen came 
into our meetings in Iowa. She was modest and 
retiring, and every inch a lady. With tears in her 



6o A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

eyes she said she did want to be a true Christian. 
She was soon in the light, and so happy and deter- 
mined. The ridicule of others had no effect upon 
her, except to mal<e her want to be more like her 
Lord, and I had the privilege of baptizing her with 
three others, including her sister. About a year 
after we left that town we received a letter from 
her, stating that she fully believed that God wanted 
her to do some special work for him, and that she 
had heard the call and was ready to go where he 
wanted her to go and to be what he wanted her to 
be. In her letter she expressed a wish that we di- 
rect her to some school where she could fit her- 
self for the life of a missionary. To-day she is 
in Chicago studying, having left teaching school 
last fall. 

Can any one but God tell what he is to do with 
this consecrated young woman ? If nothing else 
had been accomplished by the visit of the car to 
that town, was not the finding of this jewel worth 
our labors ? I cannot but believe that there are 
many such jewels whom God ought to have for 
special service. 

But I must write something concerning the boys, 
and I can do no better than insert their letters to 
me. The first one is from a dear boy who lived in 
northern North Dakota. Please notice how intel- 
ligently he writes : 

November 25, '97. 
DEAR Mr. Rust : I have considered that the best thing in 
the world for me to do is to live for Jesus. I know I have 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 6l 

broken God's laws and have done wrong. My dear father 
died about two months ago and left my mother and five chil- 
dren. I am the oldest, thirteen years of age. My father lived 
a true, good, Christian life, always loved to go to church, and 
always had regular family prayers. And now my mother 
wants me to live a Christian life, and mother says that she 
will live for Jesus and do all she can to lead the children to 
Jesus. Mr. Rust, I have asked Jesus to forgive me for all 
my sins, and give me a new heart and keep it pure, and as I 
said the other night, ** I will live for Jesus." 

1 am going to do my best to be a Christian, and while I am 
spared will try to lead others to Jesus. Thank you for the 
good you have done me. 

Yours respectfully, 

BURRITT HILLIER. 

How blessed the influence of a godly father and 
mother, and what a manly son. The following is 
from an unusually promising boy of about the same 
age. He is the son of a prominent business man 
in a city in Wisconsin, who- is a member of the 
Congregational church : 

May 8, 1903. 

DEAR MR. RUST : I have found that the only life to lead 
is the life of a Christian. 1 have been trying to become a 
full-fledged Christian for many years. Sometimes I think I 
have conquered, then something comes up, and as I have an 
awfully quick temper I lose control of myself and fall back. 
Now 1 can truthfully say that I am going in the narrow gate. 
I have learned a great many things from your services. I 
I have opened my heart to Christ and shut it to Satan. 

Yesterday, when you asked us to come forward I wanted 
to go, and be one of the first ones up there, but when I started 
to go I seemed glued to the seat. 1 could not feel strength 
enough to move. But I made one final effort and succeeded. 



62 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

and as a result I am about the happiest boy I have ever seen. 
I WILL, and am DETERMINED to stay on the RIGHT PATH. 
Hoping you will pray for me, 1 remain 

Your loving friend, 

EARL MYRON HiLL. 

The next letter is from a bright boy in a town 
in South Dakota. He is the son of prominent 
Methodist people, and bids fair to take the place of 
a presiding elder or a bishop some day. He, with 
other boys of about twelve years of age who were 
interested in our services, have organized a re- 
ligious *' Boys' Club,'' and I was with them in one 
of their meetings. 

Jan. I, 190;. 
MR. RUST. 

Dear Sir : Our club is getting along just fine. Otto and 
Ida and Emma united with the Methodist church this morning. 
I wish you would write to our club sometime. The girls told 
me that you wrote to their club. We had a Christmas tree 
at our club and distributed presents. A friend of mine gave 
me the name of a poor boy in Randolph, Minn., and I am 
sending him the papers that I get every week. I just wrote 
to him, and said that I had made up my mind to be a mis- 
sionary some day, even if it is only IN MY OWN TOWN. 
Otto and I have told some people that we would go in to- 
gether and get a chapel car, and be missionaries when we get 
older, and we mean it. You have done very much good in 
our town, and I am like that boy whose letter you read. I am 
determined, and I will go in the right path. 

Respectfully yours, 

HAROLD Meyer. 

Surely this boy has ideals and knows what a 
missionary is, and we are glad that some day 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 63 

we shall have volunteers for extended chapel-car 
service and so for making Christ known 

METHODS 

Before I close this chapter it might be well for 
me to write something concerning methods in 
meetings with the boys and girls. I shall not at- 
tempt to go into any extended treatment of the 
subject, but give in a general way about what my 
experience has taught me is the wisest way to 
work with our beloved young people. 

In the first place let me say, that while I believe 
in a cheerful and bright good time as we meet in 
public service with our rollicking boys and girls, 
yet I have ever sought to teach them what it 
means to be young ladies and gentlemen, and to 
remember why we have come together and also to 
have reverence for the gospel in song and word 
and for God. As a rule we have no trouble. They 
are as quiet and thoughtful as could be expected. 

I have used the chalk (the blackboard) a great 
deal but am not confined to it, although I realize 
that the eye gate is very wide. We do endeavor 
to win them more or less to ourselves. I do not 
stand before them with a stern or gloomy expres- 
sion on my face, nor jump at them like a tiger, nor 
attempt to be official and command them as a master, 
but am willing and glad to be one of them, a little 
older than they are, but a friend and very much 
interested in them. 

As to specific methods in taking expressions in 



64 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

meetings, let me say that I practically never ask 
them to raise their hands to express a desire to be- 
come Christians. Their hands come up too easily, 
and in many instances it implies absolutely no in- 
telligent will purpose. 1 have often tested the 
hand-raising by asking questions about other mat- 
ters, and many will put up the hand when I ask 
for it, utterly regardless of the reasonableness of 
the request or what it implied. To my mind there 
are much better ways. 

Perhaps I could briefly describe my usual method 
for a week's meeting with them. Begin on Mon- 
day and show them the value of their lives in 
God's sight ; continue by showing the awfulness 
of sin, as it ruins that precious life ; reveal some of 
the sins that do spoil the soul and life ; then show 
them a Saviour living and dying in order to save 
the life and soul ; how he can cleanse and beautify 
them and use the life if it is given to him. Try to 
have them see that a refusal to let Christ have our 
hearts and lives means disaster and is a sin of great 
proportions. Then ask them if they want Christ 
to forgive, and save and use their lives. Tell them 
that simply wanting to is not enough ; they ought 
to say 'M will yield my whole heart to him.'' 
Believing that practically all want to, and many 
can intelligently say '' I will," I ask them all to bow 
on the back of pew in front, and then in perfect 
quietness yield, each one for himself. This is not 
at every meeting, although we always bow in 
prayer before departing, but this is at close of the 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND YOUNG PEOPLE 65 

fourth or fifth meeting. I then say, ** Now those of 
you who feel that you have fully yielded to Christ 
please come to me sometime before you go home 
to-day and tell me/' and they come slowly, delib- 
erately, one by one, not all, but always some. 
The next day we have a quiet confession meeting, 
and on Sunday in the Sunday-school they are glad 
nobly to confess their decisions before their friends 
as they stand around their pastor (provided there is 
one), and this always helps others to do the same. 
If we have time we explain in other meetings about 
the church and the Christian life. I shall never be 
able to thank God enough for the privileges of these 
years with the boys and girls. 



E 



VI 

DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 

PROBABLY there was never a time in the 
world's history when books and papers were 
read as they are now. The fact is the peo- 
ple did not have them to read. Seventy-five years 
ago printing was in its infancy. Only hand-presses 
were used, and there were not enough of them in 
our whole country to get out one edition of the 
present daily New York papers, nor were there 
enough mills in our country to furnish paper for 
one such edition. We have progressed at a very 
rapid rate in our art of printing and bookmaking. 
This has been both a blessing and a curse to our 
fair land. Every good thing can be prostituted to 
low purposes, and it is certainly true that there has 
been a *' devil " atthe pressin more senses than one. 
Whereas, seventy-five years ago papers were hard 
to get and one paper would be carefully read by sev- 
eral families, now the New York daily journals 
print a million copies each morning ; add to this one 
million five hundred thousand copies each evening, 
and it is the custom for one family to have several 
papers. As this same advance has been percepti- 
ble in all branches of literature we are constantly 
confronted with a great danger as well as a great 
66 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 67 

opportunity. Sometimes I wonder what will be- 
come of our spruce trees if this is to continue. Nine 
novels recently published in the United States had 
a sale of one million six hundred thousand copies. 
The books contain two million pounds of paper. 
An expert manufacturer states that five hundred 
pounds of paper can be gotten from the average 
spruce tree, and that these nine novels destroyed 
four thousand trees. When you consider the al- 
most countless number of novels that are being 
placed in the hands of the public every month, 
you can see the forest of trees fall before you 
every year. 

But this danger of losing so many of our trees by 
the publication of empty novels is nothing to be 
compared to the moral danger that is before us. I 
shall not take space in this chapter to go into any 
extended discussion of the facts that Christian 
workers have revealed concerning what kind of 
literature is being published and is finding an en- 
trance into thousands of hands. It would almost 
seem as if the press, which was used for the first 
time to print parts of God's book, would almost 
melt with shame and become a molten mass as it 
beholds the sort of reading matter which has come 
from its plates. Such a large proportion of the 
produce of the press comes from the composing 
rooms of the devil and his agents that we are con- 
vinced that there is hardly any agency in this world 
which does so much harm along with its good. 

Books and papers receive the stamp of something 



68 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

more than ink. They very evidently bear the im- 
print of the character of the author. They really 
become persons, and live with us and touch hu- 
manity everywhere with the power of personal 
contact. A thousand books from an author simply 
make that author, or his impersonated ideal which 
he has set forth in the book, a thousand and more 
persons to go into the homes and touch the lives of 
the people of the world. If the author and the 
ideals are good, then the world receives the in- 
fluence of a thousand lives of righteousness ; on 
the other hand, if the author and the ideals are bad, 
then the world receives the influence of a thousand 
lives of evil. Oh, the marvelous power of books 
for heaven or hell ! How we rejoice and tremble 
before it at the same moment. The character of 
the individual, of the home, of the nation, of the 
world depends upon what books are read. 

At times I have personally been conscious of 
something of the methods that the evil one was 
employing in getting low reading matter before the 
eyes of the innocent. I was on a train in Wiscon- 
sin one day when the news agent stopped and whis- 
pered to me as he put a book before me, *'Say, 
young man, don't you want to read something 
rich ? " I took the book and looked at a few lines, 
and read the most obscene statements. I handed 
it quickly back to him, stating that ^* I did not want 
any such stuff to enter my mind.'' I did not dream 
that such books were being circulated. It was 
nothing but a twenty-five cent book, but the price 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 69 

was two dollars and fifty cents. He said that he 
would sell it for two dollars. He also tried to get 
me to look at some obscene pictures, but I would 
not allow him to show them to me. If our inno- 
cent boys and young men are constantly being 
tempted thus, think of the fair lives that are being 
contaminated by this kind of literature. 

THE NEED 

I wish to refer also to the need as I have come 
in contact with it. It is true that the rural mail 
system is bringing the lonely home in the country 
very near to the printing press, and I have always 
found some intellectual and cultured people in the 
small towns and at times in the country, who have 
their center tables well stocked with current maga- 
zines and books and papers. Occasionally I meet 
with a family away out in the woods that reveals 
to me an interest in the best reading, as one I 
found in the woods of Minnesota, nine miles from 
town, where the father and mother seemed unusu- 
ally intelligent. They could talk about religious 
affairs, Baptist conditions, and current questions of 
the day, and in answer to a question as to what 
they read, they told me The Standard, 

At the same time it is true that in thousands of 
homes in the small towns and in the country dis- 
tricts of the great West they never see anything 
more than the daily newspaper, and in other thou- 
sands of homes what literature they do have 
is of an exceedingly trashy kind. Some homes 



70 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

are destitute of practically all reading matter, and 
there is no excuse whatever for it. Often we have 
failed to find any Bible in the house, and more often 
no good religious paper to stimulate the spiritual 
life. This lack has been the mother of ignorance, 
prejudice, superstition, and sin. Some parents 
have been too all-forgetful of the importance of 
reading matter in the development of their children. 
I have been in homes where the uncle was a rail- 
road man and read many novels of low character, 
and the mother looked upon her boy of fourteen as 
he devoured those books month by month, with 
absolute indifference. How little she seemed to 
realize that false ideas of life were being sown in 
his young mind and would almost certainly spring 
forth to bear a terrible harvest by and by. I have 
been in town after town, and found the young 
people completely ignorant of any reading which 
could be at all attractive to them, except the ten 
and twenty-five cent novels of the day. My heart 
has ached to note their dwarfed and distorted 
mental condition, and I can well add their sad heart 
condition, because they have had such literature 
as daily food. 

THE NEED SUPPLIED 

As I have noted, the sad condition in so many of 
the homes in the West, I have been exceedingly 
grateful to God that there are many publishing 
houses in the land that are seeking to supply this 
need, and I have been especially thankful that 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 7 1 

the Baptists have a great plant in Philadelphia 
which was built for this very purpose. I have also 
been personally glad that I could help in put- 
ting some of the products of this great publishing 
institution into the hands of the needy ones. 

The thought in the minds of those who began 
the work of the organization now known as the 
American Baptist Publication Society, was mainly 
tract distribution. If it had been simply confined to 
this it would be far from filling an insignificant 
place in the world. Our Society antedated the 
American Tract Society by about a year, and has 
continued in its ever-growing work to give much 
time, thought, money, and effort toward the wise 
distribution of tracts and good literature of all kinds 
to the needy of the world. While appreciating the 
unique power of the human voice in proclaiming 
gospel truth, yet the Society has ever believed that 
there was great potency in the propagation of the 
gospel by means of the printed page, and it has ever 
sought faithfully to do its work. 

Whenever I think of those two magnificent build- 
ings, stocked with books and literature of the best 
kind, and owned by the Baptists of our land, I see 
before me a large railroad station with its incoming 
and outgoing trains. The station was not erected 
for the trains or the people to stay in forever, but that 
they might have a convenient place to enter and to 
depart from. Thus the Publication Society build- 
ings were not erected to hold periodicals and books 
forever until they became moldy and useless on 



^2 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

the shelves, but rather that it might be a great 
Baptist depot, through which the product of con- 
centrated Christian minds might travel to enlighten 
and bless any and all of the human family. 

Thank God for the mighty train loads of Chris- 
tian literature that have rolled out of this depot 
since its erection. And these books and tracts have 
not been thrown out of the train by any mechanical 
devicethat worked automatically. No! No! There 
has been a living heart and a living hand back of 
each gift and each sale. God's heart back of all, 
and next the noble line of Christian men who have 
toiled so faithfully in its many departments, and 
also the army of missionaries who have for these 
many years gone on foot, on horseback, or wagon, 
to the homes of those who needed the printed word 
of life and light. The hands that distribute the 
literature of this Society are not cold, official, and 
metallic, but warm, sympathetic, and loving. 

May I ask if the reader fully realizes what our 
Publication Society has done since its inception in 
this work of distributing good literature ? Please 
note the following: Books sold, 887,581; books 
given away, 184,132 ; pages of tracts distributed, 
50,077,679 ; Sunday-schools aided by grants of 
books, etc., 26,852 ; pastors and students aided by 
grants, 9,324. 

In addition to this, the Society has distributed as 
many as one hundred thousand copies of the Scrip- 
tures in a single year, and is sending out nearly 
fifty million copies of quarterlies and Sunday-school 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 73 

papers every twelve months. Can any one 
measure the influence of this glorious work of the 
consecrated printing press ? 

METHOD OF SUPPLYING THE NEED 

The greatest part of the printed matter which 
our Society sends out goes from headquarters and 
the six branch houses, and in the missionary de- 
partment the colporters and Sunday-school mis- 
sionaries distribute most of it, but a very important 
part of the chapel-car work is found in its oppor- 
tunity of helping a little in this distribution of good 
literature. 

The chapel car rolls into a destitute town with 
its lockers and bookshelves well stocked with 
papers, books, tracts, and Bibles. An invitation 
is given to all to come into the car and read. 
Young men along the line have availed themselves 
of this privilege. We sell no books under free 
transportation, but tracts and books by the thou- 
sands have been given away. We have a library 
of about sixty volumes of the best Christian read- 
ing in our chapel room, and at the first meeting in 
a small town we tell the people that these books 
are for them to enjoy. The missionary is often- 
times kept very busy loaning these books. The 
young people eagerly secure them, and sometimes 
each one will read three or four in a week. They 
did not know such books were in print. We sel- 
dom lose a book, as they are notified when the car 
will leave. I have seen them coming to the car 



74 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

just before the train was to haul us out, walking 
along the track reading their books, anxious to 
finish before the chapel car left. I firmly believe 
that a large number of young people in the North- 
west have been influenced to noble purposes for 
life through the reading of these books. 

The railroad men in the shops and everywhere 
along the line have been the recipients of many 
gifts of books from the chapel cars. The Publica- 
tion Society has gladly furnished tracts, pamphlets, 
books, and Bibles to be placed in the hands of these 
men. In addition to this Rev. A. P. Graves, the 
well-known evangelist, has very kindly donated 
hundreds of copies of his book, '* That Railroad 
Man," to all the chapel cars, and the missionaries 
have been glad of the opportunity to present this 
book to the railroad men in the West. Mr. Graves 
came to me in Cleveland, Ohio, recently, and 
asked if I needed any more of his books to dis- 
tribute. I told him *'No.'' He then said, ''Re- 
member, you can have all you want ; just let me 
know.'' He is certainly reaching a large number 
of men through this kindness. 

I would like to refer to tract distribution from the 
chapel cars. Hundreds of thousands of pages of 
gospel tracts have found their way into the homes 
of the people from the meetings and from personal 
calls in this work. When I first started out the 
Society sent a great boxful to me, and the other 
cars have had the same. I have no space to refer 
at length to what the power of a single tract under 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 75 

the blessing of God's Spirit is known to be, but one 
can easily believe that much good has been done 
through this feature of chapel-car service. 

One of the most important phases of the work of 
the Society is that of scattering abroad the Scrip- 
tures, and the chapel car has been an effective me- 
dium through which a part of this great service has 
been accomplished. If you could visit the homes 
of those who have attended the meetings of the 
chapel car you would find in a very large number 
of them a Testament or a Bible with the following 
stamp on the inside, '* Presented by the American 
Baptist Publication Society.'' An army of boys 
and girls have received a copy of the Scriptures to 
be their own. 

In addition to this all the chapel cars have had 
some nice leather-bound teachers' Bibles to give 
away to those whom the missionaries thought would 
appreciate them. These have been the gift of a 
Christian gentleman in the East. Hundreds have 
been presented every year. This chapter would 
be too long if I should attempt to write of all the 
lives made happy in receiving these beautiful 
Bibles, but I must write of a few. 

During recent meetings in a small town in the 
State of South Dakota, a noble girl of seventeen 
years happily yielded her whole heart and life to 
Christ. Her home was ten miles in the country. 
I remember my last conversation with her. I had 
handed to her a slip of paper, on which were 
printed many Scripture references. In response to 



76 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

a question she said she had no Bible. I said, **Will 
you wait a moment ? I want to give you one.'' 
Into the study I went and brought forth one of these 
Bibles. I wish you could have seen her face as 
she saw it. 1 said, *' This is for you. Study it 
daily, and may God bless you.'' She took my 
hand and tried to thank me but could not say a 
word, her large eyes filling with tears as she turned 
and went out. She has written to me since and 
thanked me, and informs me of her baptism and 
purpose to be all that Christ could wish her to be. 

In more recent meetings a young man confessed 
his need of Christ in tears, and was soon happy in 
his trust in him as Saviour and Lord. As I gave 
him the list of verses he said he had no Bible. 
How his face lighted as I presented him with one 
of these leather-bound books. 

In another series of meetings a woman who had 
been brought up a Roman Catholic manifested 
some interest in the Christian life. I called on her 
and prayed with her. She blushed as I asked 
for a Bible, and said ** We haven't any, Mr. Rust." 
She was soon assured of her salvation and could 
hardly find words to thank me as I gave her one 
of these beautiful Bibles. She carries it with her 
to church every Sunday. 

How many times I have referred to and thanked 
God for that Christian man who has made it possi- 
ble for us to give these Bibles to the needy ones in 
the West. God will continue to bless and reward 
him most assuredly. 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE ^^ 

A few years ago this same man purchased one 
hundred of Doctor Northrup's book, *' A Cloud of 
Witnesses," and gave them to the chapel cars to 
be used as tokens of appreciation for what the rail- 
roads are doing for the chapel-car work. These 
have been placed in the hands of railroad presi- 
dents and general managers, who have gladly 
accepted them. 

I would also like to mention a rather unique 
phase of the good literature work. During services 
in an Iowa town I found a boy of fourteen years of 
age waiting to talk with me at the close of the 
afternoon meeting. We went into a room, he 
fumbled in his inner coat pocket and pulled out two 
or three of the cheap five-cent novels. As he 
handed them to me he said, *' My mother and father 
don't know that I have been reading these and I 
want you to burn them up for I have quit reading 
them, having come to this decision during these 
meetings.*' I had a good talk with that manly 
boy and knew that he would be true. Realizing 
that thousands of boys were reading those novels I 
thought of a class of reading published in Boston, 
and printed in sensational style, but gotten up for 
the purpose of counteracting this trashy, blood and 
thunder kind. Procuring the money I purchased 
some of these Christian stories for the young peo- 
ple and began to scatter them. They were re- 
ceived and eagerly read. I am sure that much good 
was done. Not long ago I met a brakeman whose 
boy had received some of these publications from 



78 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

me. This man told me that his boy was continu- 
ing to subscribe for them, and he knew that the 
other kind of reading had no attractions for him. I 
have often wished that I had more money to use 
in distributing these stories among the boys and 
girls. I might add that the name of the publisher 
is E. Bumsted, Milk Street, Boston, Mass. 

READING AND STUDY 

In this chapter it would be appropriate to answer 
the question that has often been asked me, namely, 
'* What time do you get for study and reading ? '' 
This question very naturally arises, because chapel- 
car work offers few moments for idleness, and it is 
a constant strain on the mind, sympathies, and 
nerves. It is a strenuous life, surely. Sometimes it 
has seemed to me that I have lived twenty years 
in the last ten. 

The temptation to allow the many calls to keep 
you busy all the time in the actual work and away 
from the study, comes to every man in every field 
of Christian service. The pastor in the city has as 
many calls for outside work (if not more) as the 
evangelist, yet he must be in his study or fail in 
his pulpit ministrations. I rather believe that the 
regular evangelist has more time to study than the 
pastor. The evangelist who goes from church to 
church and holds two meetings a day on an aver- 
age, has little to do outside of those two meetings. 
But the actual preaching services of the pastor are 
a small part of his work. 



DEPARTMENT OF GOOD LITERATURE 79 

Tell me why it is that the evangelist is often- 
times considered the one who does not develop 
mentally or spiritually when compared to a pastor ? 
There is no reason why the evangelist cannot put 
actually more time into study and reading, if he 
will. I cannot tolerate the thought that the evan- 
gelist honors his profession when he never gets 
beyond a few stock sermons and is satisfied to be 
the same mentally that he was years ago. The 
evangelistic field offers unexcelled opportunities for 
the development of the keenest intellect, the dis- 
play of the broadest sympathies, and for growth in 
highest Christian culture. There is absolutely no 
excuse for any evangelistic worker not studying. 

In the chapel-car work the call to be away from 
the study is exceedingly loud and is also con- 
tinuous. The missionary on the chapel car is ex- 
pected to be preacher at four hundred meetings a 
year ; to be able to call at every home in a large 
parish in a few weeks ; to help in the cooking de- 
partment of his parsonage and the janitor work in 
the chapel ; to train and organize the new material 
into all forms of Christian service ; to prepare them 
for baptism and church-membership ; to lead in 
raising money for a new church building ; to per- 
sonally go over the country to secure this money, 
and to help actually in the hauling of stone, laying 
the foundation, putting up the building, and paying 
the bills. All of this to be done in two or three 
months, and sometimes in six or seven weeks. 
One can readily see that his life is similar to the 



8o A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

busiest city pastor. We have held many meetings 
in city churches at times when the car was in the 
shops, therefore engaging in the work of the regular 
evangelist, and we have had many years of the 
strenuous service on the chapel car, but at no time 
have I felt that I could excuse myself for not 
reading and studying. 

I have believed very sincerely in heeding the 
apostle's exhortation, ''Give heed to reading" 
(i Tim. 4:13), and in the truth of Carlyle's words 
when he said *' The true university is a great col- 
lection of books," therefore in addition to reading 
the many weekly and monthly papers and maga- 
zines, I have been able during the last few years 
to read from fifty to seventy-five books a year. 

It has been my plan in recent years to devote 
certain hours each morning to study. Sometimes 
this would be broken into, but I have generally 
been able to stay at my desk and typewriter from 
one to three hours each forenoon. By doing this I 
have been able to write a sermon or address each 
week in addition to the other work. Sometimes I 
have written ten new sermons in ten days and deliv- 
ered them, but this is too hard, except occasionally. 

I am willing to confess that, with the plan of 
reading and study that I now have in mind, there 
will be no moments in the day when I shall have 
nothing to do. We must reserve some time for de- 
votional reading and prayer, and I am seeking to 
consecrate a portion of each day to these means 
of grace. 



VII 

MUSIC DEPARTMENT 

DO not think for a moment that this is an 
insignificant part of our chapel-car service. 
While I may be able to record something 
of what music has done to make this phase of mis- 
sionary work successful, yet I am conscious that it 
will be impossible to write of all that God has done 
through the consecrated voice in these years of 
Christian activity. Many a soul has found a lost 
chord, others have realized harmony was taking 
the place of discord in their lives, and still others 
who had remained untouched by every known 
plea, have been awakened to the noble and to 
Christ through the ministrations of gospel song as 
sung in the chapel car. 

PLACE OF MUSIC IN THE WORLD 

The ancients had a fable that Orpheus, the god 
of music, was drowned in the sea, hence the sea is 
so musical. This fable would seem to indicate that 
harmony had perished from the world. But music 
has a large place in the world to-day, and we can 
well pity the one who cannot respond to it. It 
seems to me as if every fibre of my being responds 
to it. It thrills me. Sweet tones on any instrument, 

F 8i 



82 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

harmony brought out by any combination of voices, 
gives rise to emotions that I cannot express. We 
recognize, however, that there are some people 
who cannot appreciate music. Moody could enjoy 
the words of a song, but he had great difficulty in 
distinguishing the tune of sacred music from the tune 
of Yankee Doodle. Some are like the banker who 
was attending a Wagner concert with a soapmaker. 
** Every man,'' said the banker, ''wants to do 
something outside of his own work." *'Yes," 
answered the soapmaker, '' I always wanted to be 
a banker.'' '* You wouldn't be a good one. I am a 
successful banker, but I always wanted to write a 
book. And now here is this man Wagner who 
tries his hand at music. Just listen to the stuff. 
And yet we all know he builds good parlor cars." 
These men certainly failed to be intelligently ap- 
preciative of some of the best music that has ever 
been rendered. I rather think there are some men 
like these on the music committees of our churches. 
But these people are scarce, for the great mass of 
people in this world to-day appreciate or like music, 
and will go miles to hear the famous bands and 
soloists of our land. 

Then is it not correct that there is some truth in 
the old fable of Orpheus ? Hasn't the great sea 
of sin swallowed up much of the music of the soul 
and forced discord into our lives ? Is the world 
sending forth to God perfect chords of moral har- 
mony ? We are obliged to confess that the exact 
reverse is true. However, Jesus came to restore 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 83 

harmony and heal all the discords of life. The re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ is one of music ; it can sing 
and does sing, even if some heathen jesters de- 
clared centuries ago that Christianity was the re- 
ligion of the sorrowful. This statement was very 
early, and has continued to be, disproved. English 
literature is full of the lyrics of our Christ, and 
poets are still looking for some new song to com- 
pose to his glory. The sublimest oratorios have 
received their inspiration and words from Jesus 
Christ the man of Galilee. Christianity has redeemed 
music most assuredly. 

It is true that in all conditions of life the soul has 
responded to music when all other influences have 
failed. We have read of a Grecian mother who 
saw her child on the brink of a precipice. To shout 
to him might only quicken his feet to step still 
closer to the edge, or so startle the child as to cause 
him to topple over. The mother with love and 
tact started a familiar air, and thus drew the little 
one to herself. Thus many a sinner wandering in 
dangerous places has been won by the Christ song. 
There are very few people in the world who can 
remain untouched while a tender, pleading song is 
sung. You may lose ground as you reason with 
one, you may get no response as you plead, but 
sing him a song and so often the emotions are 
touched and the will is helped to move. There is 
a charm, a power about a Christian song sung from 
the heart that is well-nigh irresistible, and God 
alone fully realizes its far-reaching influence. 



84 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

There is a familiar story of a Scotch soldier who 
lay dying in one of our hospitals during the civil 
war. A minister went to him (himself a Scotch- 
man) to tell him of Christ and his love. But the 
man turned his face away and would not listen, 
saying, ''Don't talk to me about religion.'' The 
minister was silent a moment, and then he began 
to sing a hymn familiar to most in Scotland. It 
was the beautiful one of the sixteenth century, 
beginning, 

O mother dear, Jerusalem, 
When shall I come to thee ? 

He sang it to the tune of Dundee. Nearly every 
one in Scotland knows it. As he was singing the 
dying soldier turned over and said, '* Where did you 
learn that.?" The minister replied, ''Why my 
mother taught me that." " So did mine," said the 
soldier, and the very fountains of his heart broke 
open as he then and there yielded himself to his Lord. 
This only proves the power of Christian song. 

I have also been impressed with the power of 
music in worship. Rev. F. L. Chapell, one of my 
beloved teachers in the Gordon Training School, 
told me of his experience when he was a student at 
Rochester. Instead of going around to different 
churches to hear many preachers during the year, 
he settled on one church with which to worship 
and went regularly every Sunday. He said that 
he would often go early and take his seat in the 
auditorium, and while the organist was at the 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 85 

organ, and its rich music floated out around him 
filling the whole building, he would bow his head 
and commune with his God. As the organ thun- 
dered in the power of its fulness he would medi- 
tate upon the power of the Omnipotent, Almighty 
(El Shaddai) One ; as the organ quieted into the 
minor key, he would think of the sin and sorrow- 
about him and go with the Christ toward Golgotha 
and stand by as they nailed his Saviour to the 
cross ; and as the organist struck the notes of the 
major key he would respond to the chords of joy 
and triumph, and thank God for the risen Christ 
and the victorious gospel message that he has given 
to this sin-cursed world. Such was the ministry of 
music to him. He has gone now to that home 
where there are no discords but where all is 
sweetest harmony. We hope to meet him there 
and join with him in better music than we have 
ever enjoyed on earth. My reader, do we not need 
to pray that our natures may be made more 
susceptible to the privileges of Christian music } 

CHARACTER AND STYLE 

There is just as much character and style to 
music, and to what is called Christian music, as 
there is to the woman of to-day and her dress. 
There is a distinctive character and a unique style 
to what is known as evangelistic singing. Some 
of it is commendable and some of it is to be de- 
plored. I pity those whose constant musical diet 
is taken from the rag-time popular sheet music, and 



86 A GHURCH ON WHEELS 

I have been in some homes where they had nothing 
else. I also pity those who think that all religious 
and evangelistic singing should be of the hop, skip, 
and jump kind. Nothing but jingle, jingle, get 
there as fast as you can with eighth and sixteenth 
notes thrown in so rapidly that you can hardly 
twist your tongue around the words and keep up 
to time. Then again, I pity those whose concep- 
tion of church music forces them to sing so mourn- 
fully and slow that they would hinder and drag 
down almost any inquiring soul who was anxious 
to soar toward the joyful experiences of the Chris- 
tian life. Without doubt there is a happy medium, 
a place for the bright, cheery songs of the gospel 
and the solid old hymns of the centuries. 

CHORUS WORK 

Under this heading I wish to write briefly of the 
place of chorus and congregational singing in our 
evangelistic work. The singing in the car has 
been congregational, with a few special singers at 
the front at times. In churches we have been 
able to secure a good chorus at nearly every town 
where we have held meetings. In most of the 
smaller towns it takes considerable energy and 
time to train the people to sing new songs. With 
the boys and girls we have little difficulty in teach- 
ing them to sing almost anything we choose to. 

We believe with men like Mr. Alexander that there 
is great power in chorus singing. But it should be 
conducted in a reverent manner and have a deep 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 87 

spiritual tone to it. The chorus leader should in 
some way impress upon the singers the thought of 
praising God with true heart reverence and love as 
they sing. I oftentimes like to ask all in the chorus 
and congregation to bow in quietness (perfectly 
still) as we pray God to bless us and help us to 
sing from the heart. 

It does not seem right or helpful to the spirit of 
the meeting to have the chorus leader telling funny 
stories, or continuously making personal remarks 
between verses which make people laugh loudly. 
We do believe in bright, strong chorus and congre- 
gational singing, but always with reverential power 
rather than boisterous noise. Many times we find 
that the best effect can be produced at the end of 
the praise service by the chorus singing quietly 
some prayer song, like ** Nearer, Still Nearer,'' by 
Mrs. C. H. Morris, and the congregation quietly 
uniting in the last verse. Then bow the head and 
some one lead in prayer. 

Personally we enjoy the solid old hymns, and 
have used the Baptist Hymnal as the one song 
book during special meetings with churches. But 
we gladly use any book and any song that can be 
of help in truly praising God. 

SOLO WORK 

I am convinced that millions can gladly testify of 
the blessing that the gospel solo has been in their 
lives. How many times it has been the part of the 
entire service which impressed and helped most. 



88 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

and how its sweetness and power have lingered 
through the entire week, and even for years ! 
Thank God for the thousands of voices that have 
been used by God to portray his love and truth in 
song. There is unique power in the consecrated 
human voice. No soloist should sing of Christ and 
his message of salvation carelessly, or from merce- 
nary or carnal motives ; if any one ought to feel 
the need of being a genuine heart Christian, it is 
the one who voices God's truth in song. Mrs. 
Rust has been a soloist in our work most of the 
time, but I have had a number of consecrated young 
men to help me on occasions when she could not go. 
By means of the phonograph I have kept a record 
of each voice. 

One may have a good voice and be a true Chris- 
tian and yet not be an efficient soloist in evan- 
gelistic work. There must be a heart full of interest 
in the individual soul back of the song. Mrs. Rust 
sings to help people. Her message in song is as 
important as the preacher's message in word. She 
prays about it, she studies hearer and needs, and 
then in a very simple but whole-souled way, lets 
the voice speak for Christ. She endeavors to 
emphasize four things in all her solo work. 

I. Fitness. She recognizes that it is exceedingly 
important that the songs fit into and add to the 
theme of the message. Her thought is not to di- 
vert the mind to her singing, but to impress the 
heart with the truth of the sermon. How many 
times the song from her lips has intensified and 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 89 

deepened the truth of my sermon and cemented 
together its entire construction and truth and fo- 
cused all the points into one ! She has clipped from 
hundreds of song books during these years and has 
a large collection of songs to draw from. It matters 
not what I preach on, she, with keenest insight, 
seems to know just what song to sing. It matters 
not where the songs are secured. She takes them 
from the best sheet music or from the hymns of the 
Salvation Army. Any song that will fit when sung 
in the spirit will do. 

2. Enunciation, You have heard some soloists 
sing, and while the tones were pitched perfectly 
you could not hear the words, and therefore the 
song had no effect upon you. Some soloists think 
only of striking the correct tones, but the gospel 
soloist must be careful to speak the words very 
distinctly if he would have his song effective. Some 
vocal music simply tolerates the words, but gospel 
songs many times only tolerate the music. Many 
hymn writers have excelled the tune writers. 
Sometimes the tune is worth but little, the words 
much. Mrs. Rust has taken the simplest and most 
commonplace tune and made it very effective, be- 
cause she enunciates the words. Every word is 
heard. How many people have spoken to her after 
the meeting and said, 'M did enjoy your solo so 
much because I could hear every word of it.'' 

3. Expression. I have heard of a soloist who was 
practising in the presence of a relative, when the 
aunt said, ''Griselda, you ought not to try to sing 



90 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

when you are shaking so with the chills/' *' Why, 
auntie/' the girl answered, *'I am not shaking 
with the chills; I am practising on my tremolo." 
I am very sure that there is no ''tremolo chill" 
about Mrs. Rust's solo work, but rather a calm, 
quiet expression of a warm, spiritual nature. Ef- 
fective singing depends so much on expression and 
phrasing. One must note the punctuation marks 
and the meaning of the song. A singer can seldom 
sing a song best the first time. New meanings will 
dawn on one as she uses the song again and again. 
The time is not important. Murder the time if you 
choose when singing a solo. Make the eighth 
notes whole notes when you think best. Put in a 
hold or a rest anywhere you consider it wise, but 
get the whole sermon of the song expressed at any 
cost. Mrs. Rust has used the simple autoharp much 
as an accompaniment, and this has helped her 
in the expression greatly. She could play quietly 
or loudly or not play at all, to suit the expression 
of the song. The accompanist can show almost as 
much expression as the soloist. 

4. Heart Feeling. I was reading of a soloist who 
had sung at the church service and was on her way 
home. On the street car she met a poor woman 
who looked in her face and said, *' Lady, I want to 
tell you how I likes your voice, it goes right to my 
heart and makes me so happy, just as if I had 
heard the angels sing. I thank you." The reason 
for this effective singing is found in the fact that 
back of the voice there is a warm heart. The singer 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 9I 

studied words, music, and the meaning of the song 
until it became the experience of the soloist and 
then the voice simply poured forth the story of a 
heart. One can easily note that it comes from the 
depths of her being when Mrs. Rust sings. Other 
hearts feel it then and the song reaches the mark. 

These four qualities of solo singing are what gave 
Sankey and Bliss, and now give Stebbins, Towner, 
and other soloists their power. Only eternity will 
reveal how many souls have been comforted, in- 
spired and helped heavenward by God's use of 
Mrs. Rust's voice. 

The following is an editorial from one of the daily 
papers at Owatonna, Minn., in 1904 : 

SONG, SWEET SONG 
Lorenzo in the Merchant of Venice is made to say : 

But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils ; 
The motions of his spirit are dull as night. 
And his affections as dark as Erebus ; 
Let no such man be trusted. 

And some one else has said : *' Let me but make the songs 
of a people and I care not who may make the laws." 

Music is the soul of poesy, and by this means the higher 
inspirations for good are carried to the masses, and the seeds 
there planted shall some day bring forth an abundant harvest. 

Thrice blest is he who hath this gift of song. 

And many more might have it if they would but cultivate 
the spirit of it. Music is an outburst of the soul in gladness. 
Through music the joy of the heart finds expression. It is as 
natural as laughter, and as simple. When one is listening 
for a few moments to the song of a master he is amazed at its 



92 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

simplicity. How perfect it is in all its details ! The melody, 
the harmony, the theme, the intonation, the words, the ac- 
cent, the enunciation— all— how simple, how perfect, and 
how easily understood. 

Those who have listened to the singing of Mrs. Rust at the 
** Meetings to Help People " at the Baptist church will know 
what is meant. How simple and plain and unaffected is all 
her work, and yet how masterful. She sings as though she 
had a message to give to the people and was giving it so that 
all, even the simplest might hear and understand. No pre- 
tense of art— no show of art — nothing but song, sweet song, 
coming from one heart and going out to the many. No show 
of self, no attempt at an exhibition ; nothing but an echo of 
spirit, of a glad heart, a heart that would help people. Truly, 
it is good to stand in such a presence and listen to so sweet 
and tender and so unaffected a message. 

Under such an inspiration it may truly be said of those 
whose hearts have been reached by her message, that " Music 
for the time doth change his nature.'' And the soul that is 
not moved by the concord of sweet sounds as interpreted by 
her, would surely be fit for ** treasons, stratagems, and 
spoils,'' and surely should not be trusted. And if there were 
more such sweet singers it would not matter so much what 
our laws were. Our hearts and our lives would be right and 
the people would surely be helped. 

In addition to this beautiful tribute to the power 
of a simple song we read of an incident of our 
series of meetings that was recorded in the same 
paper. It seems that two young men came in from 
a neighboring town to attend a ''show'' in the 
opera house which is very near the Baptist church. 
Before going to the "show" they visited several 
saloons, and by eight P. M. were in anything but 
a gentlemanly condition. Being directed to the 
opera house, they by mistake got into the Baptist 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 93 

church building. Both structures were large brick 
buildings near the court house, and they could 
easily make the mistake when under the influence 
of liquor. They stayed until the close of the meet- 
ing and returned to their homes. When asked the 
next morning, ''How did you like the show?" 
they replied, *'Oh, we have seen better shows in 
our own town, but the leading lady was a fine 
singer.'' Up to this time I had never been accused 
of being in the ''show" business and Mrs. Rust 
had never been called a "leading lady." 

During these years God has marvelously blessed 
this consecrated voice. Mrs. Rust is conscious 
that her voice hasn't the culture and power which 
is acquired by long years of training, but the many 
kind words from those who have been helped by 
her singing only prove that God can use an or- 
dinary voice if it is given to him. My heart has 
ached as I have met young men and women who 
had remarkable talent in their voices, yet had been 
totally irresponsive to the call from God and have 
wasted those voices in their devotion to ragtime 
and superficial music. Others whom I have met 
have gladly consecrated this talent to their Lord 
and are to-day being greatly used of him. 

In closing this chapter I will mention a few sim- 
ple incidents that reveal the blessing of God upon 
the consecrated singing in the chapel car. 

During a men's meeting I noticed a rough-looking 
young man crying while Mrs. Rust was singing. As 
he passed outside and walked with a friend by the 



94 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

side of the car I could hear them talking, as the win- 
dows were open. The friend was chiding and ridicul- 
ing him, and finally asked him what he was bawling 
about. I heard him say, '*Well, how could a fel- 
low help it ? A man's heart must be like stone if 
he couldn't feel like wanting to live better after 
hearing her sing." 

During another series in a Minnesota town we 
had called at the home of a poor man in the coun- 
try. In the evening he came to the living room of 
the chapel car before meeting, and said, '' You came 
out to see our shack to-day and I thought I would 
come in early and take a look at yours." We gladly 
let him look over our apartments, and talked with 
him about being a Christian. I think he was truly 
convicted, but he was not willing to yield. He 
stayed through the meeting that night, but seemed 
unmoved as I asked those who wanted to be Chris- 
tians to come forward. During the after meeting I 
asked Mrs. Rust to sing a touching solo while I was 
pleading. He sat there, deep in thought as she 
quietly sang, and I saw him move, get up, take off 
his great fur coat, and walk nobly down the aisle. 
His eyes filled with tears as he took my hand and 
said, '' I could not stay there while she sung ; I had 
to come." 

Then I recall how all through these years Mrs. 
Rust has walked miles to sing at hospitals, at homes 
for the aged, in private homes where there were 
sick people, and at so many funerals ; how she 
has gone from house to house in the country and 



MUSIC DEPARTMENT 95 

sung the gospel story into the hearts of the people. 
She is grateful to her Lord that he could use her 
voice to help these sorrowing ones, and she con- 
tinues to ask him to make her a blessing to some 
one every day. 

This chapter must not be closed without mention- 
ing the fact that a number of godly young men 
have rendered valuable service as my assistants 
when Mrs. Rust could not go. God certainly used 
their consecrated voices. I gladly refer to them. 
To-day as I think of them I pray God's richest 
blessing upon each. Five of them are efficient 
pastors in the West, one of them has recently gone 
to Porto Rico, two of them are in business, and 
one is a well-known gospel singer. 



VIII 

RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 

THIS chapter very pertinently takes its place in 
this book. Chapel cars and railroads are very 
closely linked together. The car would be 
useless without the railroad. In the providence 
of God our country has been covered with a net- 
work of steel, and this fact made chapel-car work 
possible. Surely this form of Christian service is 
railroading from beginning to the end of each year. 
The closest affiliation is needed to make the work 
a success. If it fails here the service is doomed. 
Many are the demands of the public upon the 
transportation companies. We have ever sought 
to have our work anything but a demand for favors, 
but rather have we tried to make the car work a 
part of their life — something that they would feel 
was theirs, not something forced upon them that has 
no rightful place on the rails, but a work that would 
seem to the officials and all a commendable and 
pleasing feature of railroad service. We believe 
that keen, level-headed railroad officials, who un- 
derstand the nature of the chapel-car work, and 
have come in actual contact with it, would state 
that we do not need to apologize for being on their 
lines. We deserve a place there, and therefore 
96 




Railroad Men Outside the Car Page 96 




Railroad Men Inside the Car Page 1C3 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 97 

are not foreign to railroad life, indeed form an 
integral part of it. 

GROWTH OF RAILROADS 

It is certainly very interesting to note the mar- 
velous progress which has been made in railroad 
life since its inception less than a hundred years 
ago. In the year 1822 the first charter for a rail- 
road in this country was secured. It was for a line 
from Philadelphia to a point on the bank of the 
Susquehanna river, but it was never built. When 
the announcement of the project was made in one 
of the Baltimore papers some one wrote to the 
editor and asked, What is a railroad anyhow .? The 
editor replied that he did not know. 

Seven years later, in 1G29, the first locomotive 
was run on a little wooden track along the Lacka- 
waxen creek. The trial was not successful, how- 
ever, and for a number of years the trains or 
coaches were drawn by horses. When the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad Company started out its 
first locomotives it put sails on them that the wind 
might help when it was blowing the right way. 
The first time-table read like this : '* This locomo- 
tive will leave this depot at 8 A. M. each morning, 
providing the weather is pleasant." 

Slow progress was made up to the year 1850, for 
at that time there were not nine thousand miles of 
track in the entire country. Since then the de- 
velopment has been almost phenomenal. Since 
1850 there has been enough railroad track con- 

G 



98 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

structed to reach more than eight times around the 
globe. If the second rail were used we have con- 
structed enough to make a single steel line to the 
moon. 

There are about one million five hundred thou- 
sand railroad men in service in this country to-day. 
If each of these men support, on an average, four 
people, then one person in every fourteen in our 
country is supported by the railroad interests. We 
are really in the beginnings of this advanced 
movement, and the next hundred years certainly 
will reveal unthought-of progress. 

The presidents and officials of these eight hun- 
dred railroad companies of our country are known 
to be, in most instances, men of character, with 
large mental endowments, and worthy of holding 
the high positions that they do. While some may 
be justly accused of thinking of the ''dollar," no 
matter how they get it, there are many of them 
who are generals in this mammoth industry and are 
really endeavoring to devote their time to perfect- 
ing the science of transportation, which is important 
in the development of this great country. 

The Railway Age says : '* One of the perils of 
our railways under the trend of events in recent 
years has been the excessive domination of Wall 
Street influences. There has been danger of too 
much financing and too little real railroading, too 
much regard to the technicalities of the balance 
sheet and too little substantial progress in the 
science of transportation.'' 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 99 

These noble men are seeking to overcome this 
danger. They are also interested in every good 
work. We have been in personal touch with many 
of these men, and while nearly all have been con- 
siderate of our work, some of them have been ex- 
ceedingly kind to us. We had worked in a town 
in Wisconsin for a few weeks. About a year after 
I wrote to the agent there telling him that we were 
thinking of stopping again and requesting a certain 
side-track if he could conveniently ''spot'' the car 
there. He sent a message to me the next day, 
which read like this : *' Your letter received on No. 2 
to-day. You may have any track you want except 
the main line. If this won't do we will build one 
that will." This reveals the kindness of the agents. 

I would now like to give you an incident which 
manifests the kindness of the officials. Mrs. Rust, 
with baby Ruth and I had been working hard in a 
little churchless town in southern Wisconsin. We 
finished our work there just before Christmas and 
wanted to get to St. Paul as soon as we could. Ar- 
rangements were made through the division super- 
intendent to have our car hauled on a local passenger 
train for part of the distance and, as they never 
hauled our car on the '' limited," they were to haul 
us into St. Paul on another local passenger train 
the next day. Soon after leaving the little town 
the general manager's car was put on behind ours, 
and he and his officials, at my request, came in and 
called on us in the chapel car. This general man- 
ager had several children and soon was bouncing 



lOO A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

Ruth on his knee. We had a pleasant chat with 
him and explained the work of the car to him fully. 
He and his officials went back into their car, and in 
a few moments, much to our surprise, his division 
superintendent came in and said that the general 
manager had given orders for No. 3, the *' limited,'' 
to ''pick us up" and take us to St. Paul. That 
general manager had noted how tired Mrs. Rust 
was, and out of the goodness of his heart had ar- 
ranged for this so that we could get in earlier. He 
has been kind to us in many ways all through these 
ten years. That division superintendent was always 
trying to help us in our work. He was a noble 
man and beloved by all. He has gone to his heav- 
enly home. Words cannot express the feelings of 
my heart as I think of the kindness of this general 
manager (who is president now) and his officials 
during these many years. 

I must also mention the fact that engineers (some 
of them devoted Christians), firemen, trainmen, con- 
ductors, and all, have in most instances done their 
utmost to make our life on the rails a happy one. 

There has never been a day in the history of 
chapel-car work when our service was thought more 
of than it is to-day. Many of my readers know 
that our chapel car "Messenger of Peace" was 
in the St. Louis Exposition for seven months and 
thousands of visitors examined its equipment and 
inquired into its work. One day about fifteen 
prominent railroad officials of our country who had 
been appointed on the committee of judges to decide 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT lOI 

about the awarding of medals filed into the car, the 
doors were locked, and for an hour they examined 
into every detail of its construction, purpose, and 
work. No better missionaries than Rev. J. P. 
Jacobs and wife could have met them and answered 
their many questions. When the time came for 
awarding the medals this committee had difficulty 
in deciding what to do about the chapel car because 
it was not there to enter into competition with any 
other car of similar kind. The Anheuser-Busch 
Brewery car was beside it, but they could not put 
the two in the same class. At first these judges 
decided that the best they could do was to give it 
honorable mention ; then one prominent official 
arose and said that he believed it was deserving of 
something better than that, and he would like to 
make a motion that they present the Society with 
a silver medal. The vote was taken and the silver 
medal goes to *' Messenger of Peace.'' This fact 
certainly reveals what thoughtful railroad men 
think of the chapel car. 

Thus the chapel car is a railroad institution and 
the missionary is a railroad man. He lives on the 
rail more than many train men. He is identified 
with the one and one-half million of men who are 
known as railroad men. While not being ofificially 
connected with the brotherhood, yet he is one of 
them. He works side by side with them, cleaning 
the car or in any other honorable position. There 
is no chasm between them. Oftentimes there is 
genuine fellowship and sometimes Christian fel- 



102 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

lowship. He never tries to get them into trouble 
by reporting trifles, but ever seeks to get them out 
of trouble. I remember that a brakeman had given 
his signals to back the train in near a loading dock. 
The chapel car was too long to make the curve 
without touching, and the result was that the new 
varnish was scratched for eighteen feet. I did not 
know how or where it was done. One day the 
brakeman called and told me he felt badly about it 
and decided that he must come and confess that he 
did it. Do you think that I would report him ? I 
have never known of one instance of a train man 
maliciously injuring my car. We seek to help them 
in switching and cleaning, building new spur tracks, 
and in every way possible. We want to be any- 
thing but a nuisance to the train crews. Coming in 
contact with them has been a blessing in more ways 
than one. I like the '* system " that characterizes 
their work. Every one under '' orders.'' No guess 
work or haphazard, slipshod business. How we 
need this in our Christian work ! 

ACTUAL WORK AMONG THE MEN 

The chapel car was not designed to work among 
the railroad men. The possibilities along this line 
developed after the work was started. 

I always seek to impress upon the men the fact 
that we do not hold meetings for them because they 
are known to be a '* bad lot '' and much worse than 
other men. We go to them not because they are 
RAILROAD men but because they are MEN on rail- 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 103 

roads. They have temptations, burdens, sorrows, 
and needs common to all mankind, and oftentimes 
they do not have as many church privileges as some 
other men. Then again, if they have gotten out of 
the way of going to church the meetings in a car 
might appeal to them more than the ordinary church 
building would. We have found this to be true, 
for men have told me that the service in the car 
was the first religious meeting they had attended 
for many years. 

MEETINGS AT YARDS AND SHOPS 

Often have we held meetings in the yards where 
the cars are cleaned and the trains made up. The 
men have gathered for a thirty-minute song service 
at the noon hour. A short talk, prayer, and solo 
have helped them to go back to their work with a 
purpose to be faithful and true to their Lord. The 
car is used at the " shops " at the noon hour. It is 
side-tracked near the door of some large building 
where many men are. In some of these shops 
there are five hundred men. The invitation is sent 
out on a printed slip, ''Come just as you are." 
They eat a hurried lunch, let the ''smoke" go, 
and rush to the car at 12.20 just as they are, with 
bare arms, begrimed faces, and overalls on. Often- 
times we have had more than a hundred men in the 
car each noon. This isn't removing the church to 
the suburbs, but literally moving it to the people. 
We always make much of the singing, both in solo 
and by the congregation. How these men will sing. 



I04 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

Scripture is read, a short talk on such subjects as 
*'The Main Line," ''The Wreck," ''Orders/' 
*' On Time,'' " Danger Signals," and other similar 
topics is given, a solo and a quiet season of prayer 
follow, and the meeting closes at 12.55 noon. As 
the men pass out the missionary has a tract for 
each one each day, and the last day a copy of 
Proverbs or Gospel of John is given to each man 
to remember the car by as he carries the book 
daily in his vest pocket. Thus seed is sown that 
will surely bear fruit. 

These shop meetings are always in large towns 
or cities at division points. We hold afternoon and 
evening meetings in the church building during our 
stay in the town (three meetings a day), thus en- 
deavoring to invite the laboring man to the privileges 
of the church of Christ. 

We know that much good is done in these " shop" 
meetings. At a series of meetings at a town in 
Wisconsin where we had delightful times with the 
shop men I noticed that a man came in and sat on 
the rear seat every noon and remained there until 
12.43 o'clock, then hurried out. I ascertained that 
he had to go out to blow the whistle at 12.45, ^s he 
was the engineer at the shops. I wondered whether 
he was getting any good from the meetings or not. 
The last day came. The men had all filed out and 
some were in tears as they passed me after I had 
taken their hands and given to each a book. This 
engineer returned after blowing his whistle and 
came to me. I took his hand and said, " Good-bye. 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 105 

God bless you." He looked into my face and said, 
as his voice choked, *' Mr. Rust, I want to thank 
you for these meetings. I cannot go to church very 
much, as I am obliged to look after my engine every 
Sunday, but I want you to know that these meet- 
ings have helped me much, and the other day I 
went in and kneeled by my engine and told my 
Lord I would yield myself to him." 

I was boarding a street car in St. Paul one day 
when a woman grasped my arm and exclaimed, 
** Mr. Rust." I did not know what I had done to 
be caught thus in such a public place and felt a little 
embarrassed. She relieved my mind by saying, 
'* You are the man that held meetings out at the 
railroad shops. Well, I want to tell you that my 
husband was converted through you and he is living 
a happy Christian life and has united with the 
church." I answered, ** Praise the Lord. I am 
glad enough to know that God helped and saved 
your husband." She left me and I went to my 
seat in the car and soon passed the very shops 
where that man had been converted. I felt a special 
joy in my soul and lifted my heart in gratefulness 
to God for using us to help men, and I also thanked 
him for dear old '' Glad Tidings." Surely we have 
had reason to believe that the chapel cars have a 
mission to help railroad men. We have found the 
men very appreciative of our work. They have 
always sent a vote of thanks to the officials of the 
company at the end of our meetings. 

I will copy one, which will serve as a sample : 



I06 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

We, the employees of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, 
and Omaha Railroad, in meeting assembled, do hereby desire 
to extend to Mr. and Mrs. Rust, of the chapel car " Glad 
Tidings," our earnest appreciation, respect, and love for the 
good we have received from their teachings. 

We sincerely hope, God willing, that we shall meet again 
in the near future to renew the pleasant and profitable meetings 
just ended. We also desire to extend our thanks to the offi- 
cials of our company for giving the chapel car trackage at our 
shops, for it has been a blessing to all. 

Resolved^ That a copy of the above resolutions be sent to Mr. 
and Mrs. Rust, Mr. W. A. Scott, our General Manager, and 
Mr. J. C. Stewart, General Superintendent. 

[Signed] DUNCAN F. ERSKINE, 

President of the meeting. 
EDWARD R. JOHNSON, 
Secretary of the meeting. 
I can cheerfully certify to the above. 

J. J. Ellis, Master Mechanic. 
St. Paul, Minn., Jan. ig, 1899. 

THE TOUCH OF THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 

In addition to the work among the men at the 
shops there is the touch of the individual railroad 
man as we come in contact with him in the regular 
meetings and in personal conversation all along the 
line. Seldom do we hold a series of meetings with- 
out seeing some man who lives on the line touched 
and helped into the Christian life. All classes have 
been converted, from section men to conductors 
and dispatchers. I will mention a few. 

I. A Section Foreman. In a little town in Min- 
nesota, where there were but a dozen houses clus- 
tered near a depot, we were side-tracked some nine 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT 107 

years ago. We found the people without religious 
privileges, there being no Sunday-school or church. 
The section foreman and his family lived near the 
station. He with many other men there had no 
regard for the things of God. Sundays in summer 
were spent in sports and he was very profane. 
His boys seldom heard him speak without an oath. 
He was far from being the man he ought to be in 
his home. The meetings were well attended, the 
car being filled to overflowing many nights. The 
foreman attended nearly every meeting and was 
soon under deep conviction of sin. He could not 
sleep nights and could hardly work during the day. 
As I gave the invitation one evening for all who 
wanted to be Christians to confess it, he arose and 
sobbingly said : '* If God will only forgive me, I 
will, by his grace, live a better life." A new power 
came into his soul and he immediately manifested 
it to his loved ones and to those whom he worked 
with. His home was greatly changed. Bible read- 
ing and prayer were taken up. His wife became a 
Christian. They both united with the church which 
was soon after organized. He became superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school. During these years 
he has made many failures as we all have, but I am 
confident that he is endeavoring to serve his Lord 
conscientiously and that he is doing his work on the 
road-bed faithfully. He and his wife have brought 
up a noble family of four boys and one girl, and 
these children have had the example of godly 
parents. 



I08 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

2. A Gravel-pit Foreman, About eight years ago, 
during meetings in southern Wisconsin, a man who 
was foreman of the gravel-pit crew attended the 
meetings regularly and became interested in his 
own salvation from sin. After about a week's 
services had passed, I had a personal talk with him 
and he bowed before his God and pleaded forgive- 
ness for his sinful and indifferent life. He was 
hopefully converted and, with his wife and two 
children, was baptized and united with the church. 
He became active in all the work of the church and 
helped in erecting a new meeting-house in the little 
town where he lived. During these eight years he 
has been faithful to his Lord and has charge of the 
same gravel pit. He has been changed from a 
sinful man to one who is exceedingly scrupulous 
about everything. The division superintendent on 
the line told a friend of mine that soon after his 
conversion this man was in the superintendent's 
office. The superintendent offered him a cigar and 
he said, '' I have quit smoking since the chapel car 
came to my town." He then proceeded to tell him 
how he attended one of our afternoon meetings for 
boys and girls when I had given a talk on *' Danger 
Signals" and had referred to the danger of using 
tobacco and drinking beer. He said further : *'On 
my way home from that meeting I threw my old 
pipe away and determined not to drink any more 
beer. I did not want to set a wrong example before 

my own boys. And more than that, Mr. M , I 

want you to know that you have a better man 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT IO9 

working for you since the chapel car came. I don't 
go near the saloon now. I have more time and a 
clearer head and stronger muscles to put into my 
work at the 'pit.'" 

3. A Conductor, Our car was sidetracked in 
another Wisconsin town about two years ago. At 
the afternoon meetings a noble boy of twelve years 
of age intelligently yielded his young life to Christ. 
He was the son of this conductor. The boy was 
baptized and became a member of the church with 
his mother. After we had been there a short time, 
the boy came to me and asked me to talk with his 
father. I told him I would and therefore went to 
the depot the next day to meet him. He seemed 
very friendly as we talked about railroad matters 
and his boy and he accepted my invitation to come 
to the meetings. He came and kept coming and 
became deeply interested. He was soon under con- 
viction. His wife talked with him, pleading with 
him to yield his heart to Christ. He resisted the 
Spirit's call and sometimes stayed away from meet- 
ings. Finally, two nights before I left, he responded 
and told his wife he was ready and yielded in his 
own room, quietly but sincerely. He told his boy 
that he would go forward the next night, which was 
our last in town. Just before the service, the boy 
came to me with his eyes shining and his face radi- 
ant with joy and said, *' Mr. Rust, I have a surprise 
for you to-night." I told him I could guess what it 
was. I soon saw his father and mother coming in, 
and as they came down the aisle and occupied a 



no CHURCH ON WHEELS 

seat near the front, I recognized a new light in the 
man's face, therefore it did not surprise me to see 
him walk down to the front and take my hand as I 
asked for some men in a manly way to confess 
Christ. The people knew him very well and at 
his request he was received for church-membership 
that night. He wanted me to baptize him before I 
left. Our train went at 9.30 A. M. and his left at 
7 A. M., therefore we decided on 5.30 A. M. for the 
baptism. The next morning a party of eight of us 
wended our way to the river-side. The Scriptures 
were read, prayer was offered by the district mis- 
sionary who was with us, songs were sung, and as 
the rising sun kissed the waters with its luminous 
rays and seemed to smile God's approval, he was 
buried with Christ in baptism. He immediately 
left for his home, ate his breakfast, went to the 
station, and as he rode out on his train, waved his 
hand and smiled, showing very clearly that the 
blessing of the Lord was filling his soul. 

He and his loved ones are working faithfully in 
the church to-day and he is seeking to let his light 
shine along the line. 

4. A Brakeman. In order to reach a certain town 
in North Dakota, our car was ''cut off" from a 
main line train and attached to a mixed train that 
cared for the business of the branch line. It was 
in the days of 'Mink and pin" couplings. The 
brakeman was terribly profane and freely expressed 
his disgust at being obliged to couple our car on, as 
he was having difficulty in making the connection. 



RAILROAD DEPARTMENT III 

He didn't want any church car on his train. How- 
ever, the coupling was made and we arrived at the 
little town which was at the end of the line. The 
brakeman lived here and attended the meetings. 
One Sunday afternoon, at a men's meeting, he 
kneeled and asked God to forgive him for his sins. 
At the evening meeting, in a church crowded with 
hundreds of people and while seated by the side of 
his wife, he decided to respond to my invitation for 
all men who would yield themselves to God to come 
forward, so after turning to his wife and saying, ** I 
am going," he arose and came manfully down the 
aisle with several other men. He told me after the 
meeting that on the way down to the front the 
whole burden of his sin seemed to roll away. His 
wife confessed Christ soon afterward and both 
became members of the church. They had two 
children and were a happy family as they accepted 
the Bibles I presented to them. 

When we came down the line on his train, this 
brakeman seemed to have no trouble with the 
couplings and was a different man in every way. 
He manifested interest in our work, came in and 
talked with us, telling us of his old home and his 
dear mother and said, '* I have written to her of my 
becoming a Christian and expect a letter at the 
division point to-day." Sure enough, when he 
arrived and had finished his work, he went to the 
post office and received his letter. He was so 
excited that he could hardly read it, so he brought 
it to me and stood by my side, looking over my 



112 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

shoulder as I read it. I cannot recall the exact 
phraseology of it, but it read something like this : 
*'My dear boy Charlie: Your letter with its good 
news has come. Oh, how I praise God that my 
prayers are answered ! When 1 received it, Charlie, 
I went upstairs and, kneeling by the old bed where 
you slept so many nights, I held it up and thanked 
God that my dear boy was saved from sin and had 
given his life to God/' How the tears of joy rolled 
down the young man's cheeks as he said to me : 
'* Mr. Rust, that letter is worth more than all the 
pleasures of sin." 

I need not record any more incidents of the work 
in this department. These will certainly give some 
idea of how the chapel car helps the men on the 
railroad. 



IX 

RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 

THE title of this chapter may cause wonder as 
to what its contents can be, therefore I will 
state at once that in this department we will 
consider the work with the weak and dying 
churches. Because so many of the churches that 
we have helped have been practically ** dead/' we 
thought that we could pertinently name these 
pages ''resurrection department." 

ACTUAL CONDITIONS 

He who is familiar with Baptist church life in the 
West, is conscious that there would be great dan- 
ger of organizing churches under the stress of the 
evident need for some moral help to the commu- 
nity, and in the enthusiasm of '*boom" times, 
which would be difficult to care for. It is one thing 
to organize a church of a few people, and it is quite 
another matter to keep that church alive. The 
missionary of any of our societies goes into a town, 
holds meetings, men and women are converted 
and even if they cannot have a settled pastor at 
once, or all the time, they ought to be together in 
a church. So a church and Sunday-school are 
organized and work begun and under the wise 

H 113 



114 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

leadership of the state superintendent of missions 
and convention missionaries, many of these very 
small interests have developed into self-supporting 
churches. On the other hand, and with no blame 
to be laid upon any one, many have struggled on 
for a few years and died. This does not leave us 
to infer, however, that these interests should not 
have been organized. Who dares to state that a 
small church which lived for ten years, and helped 
many a soul into the light and sent forth some of 
the noblest workers this world has known, should 
not have been organized, because after a decade of 
years of service it succumbs to the inevitable be- 
cause of removals and changed conditions, and dies? 
Some of these little churches have left the record 
of a glorious past. They actually finished the 
work that God gave them to do. Then we must 
not forget the individual souls and lives saved while 
they were alive. These young men and women 
have gone out to help in some other field. Yea, 
they have gone to all parts of the world, and God's 
kingdom is advancing because of them. The indi- 
vidual life that is saved for Christ never dies even 
if the church in which he was born does. 

Nevertheless we do not like to see churches 
dying, and the boards of our State Conventions and 
Home Mission Society, and those of all other de- 
nominations (for they have the same problems), 
are doing all in their power, with limited resources, 
to keep alive these struggling interests. It does 
make one's heart ache to see the great need, to 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT I15 

have calls come in for twice the help that can be 
given. The American Baptist Publication Society, 
through its Sunday-school missionaries, colporters, 
and chapel-car missionaries, has ever sought to help 
in the important work of reviving dying churches. 
All over the great West we have tried our best to 
aid the struggling ones, and many accounts could 
be given of the blessed results which have come 
from the visits of the workers of this Society. 

The chapel cars were built especially to reach the 
churchless communities, /*. e,y those desolate places 
where no building could be found in which to hold 
a meeting. But when so many calls came from the 
dying churches, and the State Convention wanted 
us to help them if possible. Uncle Boston went first, 
as I have done since, to the officials of the railway 
line and after telling them of the calls received from 
these weak churches, and the importance of keeping 
alive that which was born, asked them if they were 
willing to give us trackage in these towns. They 
saw the reasonableness of our doing this work, and 
gladly granted us the privilege of helping in this 
direction. During these years we have visited 
many a church that was almost ready to ''dis- 
band,*' and God has wonderfully blessed as we 
have sought to encourage and strengthen them. 

Perhaps it might be well for me to briefly de- 
scribe the towns where these churches are, as well 
as inform the reader more fully regarding some 
problems which have to be met. Generally these 
weak and dying churches are in towns of a popula- 



Il6 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

tion ranging from three hundred to two thousand 
five hundred people. Some of these towns are fully 
equipped with all modern conveniences. Towns of 
seven hundred people will have electric lights, an 
elegant school building, and other up-to-date com- 
forts in the homes. But many towns are far from 
modern. Some are in the woods. Some are little 
villages on the prairie where the whole appearance 
is that of a pioneer settlement. However, we sel- 
dom get into any town but that we find some cul- 
tured and intellectual people. These people have 
come from cities and large churches, and are in 
those towns to *'grow up with the country," look- 
ing forward to the time when their prosperity will 
enable them to live as they once did. 

I remember visiting a little Swedish community 
of some seventy-five people clustered near a depot. 
I found that the *' banker " and his wife were very 
cultured people. She was a graduate of Oberlin 
and he was a musician as well as she. They were 
accustomed to spend their evenings in study, con- 
tinuing their work in music, languages, and current 
reading together. The people of this class in all 
these towns want good preaching, and sometimes 
are disposed to take nothing if the pastor is not up 
to their standard, even if he is the best that they 
and the Convention could pay for. This makes an 
added difficulty for those who try to supply these 
needy fields. However, many of these cultured 
people are Christian enough to be thankful for 
what they can have, and gladly do all they can to 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT II7 

help in the field where they live. Once in a while 
we will find a town that is over-churched but not 
often. If these churches could be revived, souls 
converted and manned by good, substantial men, 
there would be no cry of **too many churches.'' 

HOW WE ARE TREATED 

It is a pleasure for me to write that during these 
visits to small churches, we have met some very 
choice Christian people who were exceedingly kind 
to us in many ways, and whose friendship we now 
prize very highly. We had left our home in the 
East and they gave us the use of theirs. They often 
sent food to the car, for we could not cook anything. 
They also invited us to dinner many times. We are 
glad to state that, generally speaking, we have been 
treated royally by one and all, in every town we 
have visited. We have endeavored to be kind to 
all and we have, except in a very few instances, 
received nothing but kindness in return. 

In one town where we were side-tracked the mis- 
sionary was obliged to go to bed for three days be- 
cause of an attack of tonsilitis. The car was on a 
special track and the rear steps were high from the 
ground. Mrs. Rust could not easily get on and off 
the car. A good Baptist brother who lived near 
the car came over and saw that Mrs. Rust needed 
some steps there and at once. Therefore he went 
to his house (a new one), took away the front 
steps, brought them over and fitted them to those 
of the chapel car. Could any one do any more for 



Il8 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

US ? I might add that when the car left that town, 
the missionary was not with it, and the steps were 
carried off by mistake. They were shipped back 
however, and are in their right place at this time. 

Perhaps there may be an interest in knowing 
what was done when we were not treated kindly. 
I will tell of two instances. They occurred nearly 
ten years ago and nothing of the kind has been 
repeated since : 

One morning in April of 1895 I stepped out from 
the car door at an early hour to get some coal. As 
I went alongside the car I was amazed to find 
printed on the side with red paint, great letters 
nearly two feet high and covering a space of some 
thirty feet, which formed the words '' CATTLE CAR.'' 
I touched it and found it was fresh. Some mis- 
chievous person had put it there during the night. 
Happy to find it was not dry I rushed in, tore up a 
pair of old trousers, and carefully rubbed off every 
particle of it before breakfast. I did not mention it 
in the meetings although the editor of the paper 
scored the miscreant terribly. God helped me to 
keep quiet and sweet, and we had the biggest 
meeting that the town had ever known. 

At a later time in another town in the same 
State something I had said about secret societies 
had been misquoted to a prominent merchant and 
''Mason'' in the town, and I was afterward told 
that he inspired some ''roughs" to egg the car one 
cold night in winter. They certainly egged it and 
it was a sight to behold when I arose the next 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 119 

morning. The cultured people of the town were 
ashamed to think that they had people in the town 
who would do such a thing. One business man 
came to me and told me how badly he felt about it. 
If you had been there you could have seen the 
missionary taking off the storm sash to clean them, 
as the eggs had run down on the inside and frozen. 
With warm water he washed the side of the car, 
and that evening preached as sweet a gospel ser- 
mon as he knew how, not once referring to the 
''egging episode.'' Learning that a certain business 
man was back of it all, he went to the store of this 
man, bought some articles from him that were not 
particularly needed, and treated him kindly every 
day. The man told some one that he never expected 
to see me in his store again. The effect of trying to 
carry out the spirit of Matt. 5 : 44 and Rom. 12 : 19, 
20 was very evident in the meetings, and we left that 
town with a host of friends. Such instances have 
been exceedingly rare and when we think of the de- 
lightful times we have enjoyed in these small towns, 
and can see the picture of scores of people at the 
station waving their hands and weeping as they said 
''Good-bye,'' we have only pleasant memories of 
the visits we have made to these towns. 

HOW THE CAR HELPS 

The power of the chapel car to help these strug- 
gling churches has been demonstrated most conclu- 
sively during our life on wheels. Picture, if you 
can, a small body of believers in a little, lonely 



120 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

town where wickedness abounds and indifference is 
evident. See them as they struggle on sometimes 
with no pastor and no preaching of any kind. 
They feel so helpless and discouraged. Enthusiasm 
dies because they are so few, yet they toil on faith- 
fully, hoping that some one will come to help them. 
Then note the pastor in one of these towns — living 
on a very meagre salary, not being able to afford 
any new books, missing the fellowship that his 
brethren in the city enjoy so much, trying to preach 
the gospel boldly and lovingly and often driving 
into the country for miles around to touch the 
schoolhouse districts. He and his church cannot 
afford to engage an evangelist and they need any 
one but a poor worker to help them. 

Some of these pastors and their wives have much 
hard pioneer work to do, and they certainly deserve 
all the help that we can give them. I have known 
of pastors driving across the country forty to fifty 
miles to make three appointments on a Sunday, and 
sometimes the mercury registers away down below 
zero. The wives are no less heroic. Sometimes 
the most cultured of young women have taken their 
places beside these noble and sacrificing pastors 
and, while suffering very much because of their iso- 
lation, have toiled on faithfully with their husbands 
for Christ's sake and for the sake of the needy ones 
about them. It has been a delight to run the car 
into a little town where these servants of God are 
laboring, and seek to encourage and help them. 

Can you not imagine how the pastor and mem- 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 121 

bers feel, when in answer to their request the 
beautiful Baptist church on wheels rolls into town? 
How proud they are of it, as they invite neighbors 
and friends to go down to see it and attend the 
meetings. Every Baptist grows wonderfully at 
first sight of it and he is glad that he is a Christian 
and a Baptist. And oftentimes those who have 
forgotten their Christ and lost their first love, will 
suddenly declare with considerable fervor, *M am a 
Baptist," and get a good start toward a genuine 
Christian life at the first meeting. The car itself 
actually revives the dying embers of soul. Then 
it always creates a stir in town. It is the '' big 
thing.*' Every one is talking about it. It shows 
that Christianity is not dying, but on the move. 
There are level-headed men putting their money 
into it. It exerts a powerful influence upon the 
people who have classed Christianity with the use- 
less and discredited antiquities of the ages. The 
novelty of it also attracts. Something new appeals 
to all Athenians everywhere. The fact that they 
want something new and totally different from any- 
thing else, opens the door for the entrance of a 
message from the '*old gospel." 

Where pastors have preached to a very few, 
crowds are at the car. It will seat more than one 
hundred and oftentimes one hundred and thirty-five 
attend every meeting. This is a large congregation 
for these small churches. Oftentimes we are 
crowded out of the car in a town of four hundred 
people. Meetings are then taken to a hall, and we 



122 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

use the car for all afternoon services. I was helping 
a missionary pastor awhile ago. He had eighteen 
out the Sunday evening previous. At our first 
meeting we had about one hundred and thirty-five 
in the car and many outside. The town needed 
something special to arouse the people, hi this 
work, all the other evangelical churches are bene- 
fited. Hundreds of people who have been con- 
verted in the chapel cars have united with these 
churches. We are very glad that this is manifestly 
true in nearly every town we visit. 

We were holding meetings in a mining town in 
Minnesota eight years ago. A man who was the 
engineer of the stationary engine at one of the 
mines came to the meeting regularly. He was away 
from his home and living in a shack. He was an 
exceptionally moral and clean man for that region, 
and one who rather prided himself upon the fact. 
One night after meeting he asked me : '' Mr. Rust, 
do you mean to tell me that an upright, honest man, 
who pays his bills and does the best he can, is going 
to the same place a murderer goes to just because 
he will not accept Jesus Christ as his Saviour ? " I 
might have argued with him some along the line that 
I had not found that man who was perfectly upright, 
nor the man that could take oath that he never could 
have been better, but I simply asked him, 

*'Do you think that man to whom you refer is 
saved ? '' He said ''No.'' 

'' Well, then, my friend, he must be lost. Not 
lost because he is as bad as the murderer, but lost 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 123 

because he as a sinner will not accept Christ who 
is the only Saviour/' 

He did not like it for he was the man. He went 
home and came back another night, and at the 
invitation for all who wanted to be Christians to 
arise, he arose with tears streaming down his cheeks 
and came into the back room with me. 

He was sobbing and I said, **My brother, don't 
feel so, please kneel with me and tell God how you 
feel.'' He knelt, put his elbows in the seat of a 
little office chair, took hold of the back with his 
hands, and swayed back and forth crying as if his 
heart would break. With an outburst of feeling he 
cried, *' O God, forgive me for my sins." 

You notice he did not ask God to forgive him for 
his uprightness. He had none to bring. He thought 
of himself as a sinner and one who needed a Saviour. 
He was soon out into the blessed light of salvation, 
rejoicing in a Saviour found. He wrote his wife and 
received a reply of joy that did him more good than he 
could express, for she had prayed for him for a long 
time. We went to the town where his wife lived, and 
he came up and together they came to the car, and 
there, before all who knew him, he told of his new- 
found salvation. That man, to-day, is a true follower 
of Christ, active in every good work for the Master. 
He is an honored member of the M. E. Church. 

VISIBLE RESULTS 

Probably the best way to show what the work 
of the chapel car is in helping these weak Baptist 



124 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

churches, would be to write of some actual visits 
that we have made to them, telling of the condition 
when we arrived, and of the visible results as we 
left. I will select one from each of the five States 
in our territory, which is within a radius of about 
four hundred miles from Minneapolis. 

The first one will be from Iowa. In consultation 
with the superintendent of missions we had con- 
cluded to hold some meetings in the northwestern 
part of the State, in a little churchless town near 
Spirit Lake. The meetings were blessed, souls were 
converted, ten were baptized, and about seventeen 
in all were ready to organize a Baptist church, 
which was done after the district missionary and 
superintendent of missions came and looked over 
the field. It was thought best not to erect a meet- 
ing-house then, so a hall was secured and chairs 
and organ purchased. While here we looked into 
the condition at Spirit Lake. Their pastor had just 
gone, but he had persuaded them to complete plans 
for remodeling their old meeting-house, and they 
had finished the basement of the addition before 
he left, I think. We called on some of the members 
but they hardly knew whether they could proceed 
to build or not. The good deacon had gone away. 
I wrote to him. He returned soon, and came over 
to our meetings in the near-by town. He told me 
that they had not given up the idea of finishing the 
building at Spirit Lake, and wanted to know if I 
could get the chapel car there and hold meetings in 
it until the church could be completed. I told him 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 12$ 

I thought we could, and as the superintendent of 
missions had asked me to get there and help them 
if possible, I went to Cedar Rapids, saw the rail- 
road officials, and they agreed to build a *'spur 
track " so the chapel car could stay for a number 
of weeks. The faithful members were busy on 
the building, and we had the privilege of trying to 
put a few shingles on the roof. Soon the chapel 
car arrived and meetings began. The car was 
filled to overflowing. Many were converted, and 
church-members were revived. The little band of 
believers was encouraged. The building was near- 
ing completion and December 8 Rev. S. E. Wilcox 
came and took charge of the dedication services, 
raising enough money to clear the debt. During 
the next week I baptized twenty-three and some 
six others were received by experience and letter, 
swelling the membership to about forty-five as I 
remember it. It was thought best to have the 
members in the small town near by unite at this 
central church, and some seventeen more were 
received. The State Convention recognized the 
importance of the field, and agreed to help, securing 
an able pastor, who was soon on the field. He is 
there to-day and has been greatly used to build up 
this church. Thus the chapel car was just the 
blessing needed at this critical time in their history. 
What a privilege and power there is in having a 
movable meeting-house to run in and use, while a 
little church is enlarging the meeting-house. How 
its coming, and the meetings helped when they were 



126 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

SO discouraged ! The meetings interested so many 
that it was much easier to secure money for a 
pastor. 

I will now ask the reader to take a trip with me 
into South Dakota. We will stop at a little town 
of some seven hundred people. Skepticism, open 
sin, and indifference abound. There were two 
evangelical churches, but no resident pastor for 
either. They alternated in meetings, a preacher of 
each denomination coming every other Sunday. 
We were told that more interest was manifested 
in our meetings than was ever known before. God 
alone knows the results, but many were converted 
and helped. Some united with the Methodist 
church and thirteen were baptized into the Baptist 
church before we left. Prayer meetings were ar- 
ranged for with printed topics and leaders, and 
a young people's society was organized. Letters 
from there reveal the fact that lives were changed 
for eternity, and a happy, hopeful condition prevails. 

We will take a trip into Wisconsin now and 
travel away up in the north central part of the State. 
The superintendent of missions had repeatedly re- 
quested us to go there. We arrived at our desti- 
nation safely, and found that we were sidetracked 
in a town of some three hundred people. There 
were fourteen saloons to mar the beauty of the 
charming little town by the lake, and only one 
Protestant church organization with no pastor to 
offset this. The Baptists were keeping up their 
Sunday-school and were being supplied occasionally 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 127 

by a Methodist preacher. When I talked with the 
Baptist people they told me that there was little 
hope of ever having a pastor again. But the bless- 
ing of the Lord came with the car and a number 
were converted. I baptized about a dozen and some 
were received by experience. New song books 
were purchased and a pastor was to be on the field. 
We left them with their small membership more 
than doubled, and all determined to work hard 
for Christ. The State Convention is looking out 
for them. 

We must make one stop at a town in Minnesota. 
At the Summer Assembly one summer about five 
years ago the superintendent of missions came to 
me and asked me to try and get the chapel car into 
a lumber town in the northern part of the State. 
It was a new town of some thousand people, but 
destined to be a center for a very large territory of 
lumbering interests. He said that he expected to 
have a missionary of the Convention there also, 
and we could work together. Rev. William Francis, 
who has been * 'assistant '' at the First Baptist 
Church, Minneapolis, for a number of years, and 
who recently left us for his heavenly home, was 
the one he sent. Mr. Francis went ahead of me, 
began his work there, and advertised the coming 
of the car. Upon our arrival we found ourselves 
in a rapidly growing and very wicked town. 

It is hard for me to pen these lines without tears 
flowing, for I am constantly thinking of my dear 
Brother Francis. How we toiled together there. 



128 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

What a noble man he was. I loved him and ad- 
mired him. Thank God for the hope of meeting 
him in heaven. I have decided to let his pen write 
of the work in this town. The following is what 
he wrote after our visit : 

During the week previous to the arrival of the chapel car 
I investigated, advertised, and prayed, believing as I did 
that God was in some way going to bless this little three- 
year old town. At the first Sunday morning service, August 
26, the attendance was but four, in the evening eighteen, and 
at Sunday-school two. Indeed, things looked most unprom- 
ising. Saturday evening, September 2, the first meeting was 
held in the chapel car '* Glad Tidings,'' and the attendance 
reached almost the one hundred mark, and comparatively 
little time was spent advertising the stay of the car. Meet- 
ings were held each day, both afternoon and evening. I 
think 1 can safely say that some one accepted Christ at every 
meeting held. 1 know of more than thirty professing Chris- 
tians who had their lives touched and brought into a more 
consistent Christian life. Fully forty persons accepted Christ, 
sixteen of whom have been baptized ; besides these there 
were many who were deeply stirred, and who we hope will 
decide for Christ. 

The entire religious life of the town was molded by the 
meetings. One of the brightest effects of the whole series of 
meetings was that whole families were saved. Among the 
converts were several Roman Catholics. At one baptism four 
members of one family were baptized, the father, mother, and 
two daughters. On Sunday, October i, a family consisting 
of a lady sixty-five years of age, her son and his wife and 
daughter, went down into Lake Bemidji with Mr. Rust and 
were baptized. Never have we seen anything quite so im- 
pressive and touching as this family baptism. 

Those who live in the more thickly settled portion of the 
country do not realize what it means to live a Christian life 
in a frontier town like Bemidji. The young Christians are 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 129 

daily thrown into temptations that would make any but the 
strongest shrink. Pages might be filled with incidents of the 
work of the four weeks. Many of the converts will unite 
with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, both of which 
feel the stimulating power of the grand work done by the 
chapel-car missionaries. The work of Brother Rust and the car 
gave me time to direct my attention to the church building, 
for which some subscriptions had been taken a year previous, 
but which had largely lapsed by removal or other changed 
conditions. Stone was secured with the money then on hand 
and the foundation for a building thirty by forty feet laid. 
Brethren Rust and Tipton went with me around the lake and 
helped to trim the logs which had been donated by Mr. T. B. 
Walker, of Minneapolis. These were taken to a sawmill 
across the lake and sawed. They furnished enough lumber 
to enclose the building. But for the aid of the chapel-car 
missionaries all this could only have been accomplished 
with a much greater effort and expense, both of time and 
money. Humanly speaking, the Baptist cause was lost in 
Bemidji but for the coming of this ready-to-hand, up-to-date 
church on wheels — not only for preaching and singing the 
gospel, but for helping every want of the community. Sixteen 
have been baptized, nine more ready for baptism, and will be 
as soon as the church is completed ; ten more to come into 
church by experience, so that the membership will be about 
forty. There were but five members of the church. The 
Sunday-school had been practically given up. It is now re- 
organized with about fifty members. The church building is 
in process of erection, and about November i will be ready 
for occupancy. 

I think one can easily see that the chapel car 
was a genuine help to the work of the State Con- 
vention here, and that God used us to help ''raise 
the dead/' 

Brother Francis toiled on faithfully until the build- 
ing was completed. Five years have gone by since 

1 



130 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

our visit to that town, and great have been the 
changes. It is rapidly developing into a much bet- 
ter town. The State Convention has continued 
the work there ever since. The church is growing 
under the ministrations of a faithful pastor and they 
have a new parsonage and an enlarged house of 
worship. 

Our last trip will be from Minnesota to Nebraska. 
I attended the Board meeting in Omaha, March 31, 
1905, and then at the direction of Brother Brinstad, 
the state superintendent of missions, went directly 
to the town of Bancroft, Neb. He told us that we 
would find a weak church without any pastor and 
they would need all the help we could give them. 
After the car was side-tracked we hunted up the 
Baptists. They were delighted to greet us and 
glad we had come so soon. Upon consulting with 
them and looking around the town we ascertained 
that we were in a town of some six hundred people, 
four Protestant churches, but no pastor in any 
church at work. The pastor of the Presbyterian 
church was laid aside by illness and had resigned 
his charge. There had not been a pastor in town 
all winter. The Baptists had kept up their Sunday- 
school and prayer meeting and were hoping for 
some one to come and help them. For years they 
had prayed for the town and they believed that 
their prayers were to be answered in the visit of 
the chapel car and its missionaries. 

We found the religious life of the town at a low 
ebb, the only regular prayer meeting being that of 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 131 

the Baptist church and this attended by only a few 
people. The people received us cordially every- 
where, some actually hungering for a little spiritual 
help. In calling upon the people I found them very 
responsive and, at the first invitation given in the 
car for those who wanted to be Christians to ex- 
press it, nine arose. Men became interested. Some 
who never attended church came. Every one 
talked of the car meetings. The boys and girls 
crowded the afternoon services and we were obliged 
to take the evening meetings to the church building 
before a week had passed. At the very first Sunday 
morning service I found a man thirty-five years of 
age waiting for me to talk with him. He was in 
tears and told me that he had never had any service 
take hold of him as ours did. He wanted to be a 
Christian if God would forgive him and save him. 
We bowed in prayer right there and he yielded 
himself to God. We found so many who seemed 
to misunderstand Christ and the gospel. How God 
helped us to pour into those hearts the blessed story 
of a Christ living and dying for men ! And they 
did appreciate it so much. Mrs. Rust's singing 
touched them. Many came and told her how this 
and that song melted them. These people showed 
their kindness to us in so many ways. All wanted 
to know what they could do for us. One business 
man had his daily paper, which came from Minne- 
apolis, sent to the car every morning. Another 
business man sent down a load of hard coal, etc. 
At the close of the meetings the men assembled in 



132 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

the chapel car decided to send a vote of thanks 
to the railway company. 

What about results ? God alone knows all. All 
Christians were helped. The whole religious life 
of the community was strengthened. One man 
told me that the town would respect Christianity 
as never before. The little Baptist church began 
to take on new life. The baptistery was repaired. 
Baptisms occurred during our meetings. Some 
thirty -three people were received by baptism, letter, 
and experience. The Baptists were given a new 
standing in the community and the State Conven- 
tion sent in one of their missionaries to care for the 
church until a suitable pastor could be secured. 
Mr. John Shaw, who was a deacon in this church 
for years, died in California the day we began 
services in Bancroft. His body was brought home 
and the chapel-car missionary preached the funeral 
sermon to more people than the church building 
could hold. The prayer of this godly man had 
been for a revival in his church. His life made 
every one believe in Christ. The funeral was 
impressive and was more than an incident in their 
lives. It served to deepen the conviction in the 
hearts of many. The influence of this noble man 
was very perceptible. During the last few days of 
the three weeks' meetings the interest was truly 
wonderful. One man said he had lived there six- 
teen years and never had he seen anything like it. 
One man who was a backslider and had not been 
known to go to church for years went to the car to 



RESURRECTION DEPARTMENT 1 33 

attend the first men's meeting and in three days he 
was confessing his sins and told me that he had 
come back home. He meant to God's home. He 
was a gambler, but is now a happy Christian and 
a member of the church. 

Thus, my reader, you can easily see what the 
power of the chapel car is to help weak churches 
in these five Western States, and the work on the 
other five cars is abundantly blessed along the 
same line. 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 

WE come now to what I believe to be the 
most important phase of our work. It is 
very true that all of the work on the 
chapel car except that at large railroad centers 
could be styled somewhat '* rural/' but in this chap- 
ter it is my purpose to consider the service rendered 
to the very small, destitute towns, where there are 
no churches of any denomination. If one has trav- 
eled much through our Western country he must 
have noted the large number of little settlements 
near the railroad stations. As you look from the 
car window you see a few stores and houses clus- 
tered near the railway. There will usually be a 
general store, a blacksmith shop, a ''hotel,'' post 
office, grain elevator, one or two saloons, and from 
two to a dozen houses. Perhaps there are not 
more than fifty people in town. The country for 
miles around would have a settler on almost every 
half section of land, however. Sometimes these 
towns have been for years about as they are, while 
others are only a few months old. At one time we 
counted seventy-five of these churchless communi- 
ties on railway lines which were new towns, and 
they were in one corner of northwestern Iowa. 
134 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 135 

The population varies. Sometimes all of the people 
are foreigners, at other times thoroughly mixed with 
Americans, and at other times we find that nearly 
all are Americans. Some of these towns are not 
morally bad, while others are nests of wickedness. 
Some of the people in these towns have been away 
from church so long that they are totally indifferent 
to the gospel, while others are simply hungering 
for spiritual food. 

These were the towns that Dr. Wayland Hoyt 
had in mind to reach and help when he suggested 
the chapel-car idea to his brother fifteen years ago. 
The cars were purposely constructed to give these 
churchless towns a church. This was the specific 
work of the car. At the time the first car was 
built no other field of labor was before us, and to 
this day there is no place where the car so per- 
fectly fits as it does in a destitute, churchless town. 
The greatest need for the car is here and the largest 
work done by the car is here. Oftentimes there is 
not a hall of any description in the place in which to 
hold a meeting and they certainly need a church 
building and preacher, therefore the chapel car was 
built and manned. If these towns had not been in 
existence the cars would never have been put on the 
rails in all probability, and if no towns like these 
existed to-day our principal work would be cut out. 

UTILITY OF THE CAR 

With a picture of the community and its need 
before us, we can easily see that the car itself has 



136 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

a service to render. People have not given seven 
thousand five hundred dollars to pay for each of 
our chapel cars simply to support a fancy or a fad. 
hi scores of these little towns it would be impos- 
sible to do the work without the car. The railway 
officials build their cars for ** business," so the 
chapel cars were constructed for '' business. '^ We 
are not traveling in a separate car because some 
wealthy people wanted to waste some money on 
us. We are not side-tracked in summer resorts and 
winter retreats for pleasure. We are on the line 
for business — God's business too. While the first 
car was evidently given with an idea that the 
scheme was somewhat visionary, yet time has 
proven the fallacy of the "fad" idea, and since 
then practical and thoughtful men and women have 
sacrificed to build the remaining cars, because they 
could see the real need for them and their value in 
supplying this need. 

These years of experience have proven without 
any doubt the great power of the car itself. Some 
missionaries have been obliged to hold meetings in 
little rooms of private homes, in small schoolhouses 
with uncomfortable seats, in parts of store build- 
ings with the people seated on planks, in box cars 
and saloons, and almost every conceivable place. 
How much better to have an attractive audience 
room, capable of seating more than one hundred 
people in comfortable pews, well lighted, and nicely 
heated in winter, cool and clean in summer, plenty 
of song books, an excellent organ, blackboard, etc.. 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 1 37 

in fact a church with a city equipment, including 
choir and organist and, sometimes best of all, a 
''hotel.'' I have been in pioneer towns where I 
could not find a clean room to sleep in nor a hotel 
table fit to eat from. 

The chapel-car missionaries can have what they 
need and not demand entertainment from the peo- 
ple. Oftentimes, however, we have difficulty in 
procuring bread (for we could not bake on the car), 
and in summer we could keep nothing without ice. 
The express companies hauled the ice in for us 
sometimes. Because of the evident utility of the 
car itself, and the consciousness that the towns 
needed it, the railway companies have hauled it free. 
They can also see that it is reasonable to haul a 
church building to a town where the people have 
none, therefore the legitimate use of the chapel car 
in the churchless communities greatly appeals to 
the officials of the railroads. 

FIRST EFFECTS 

Words cannot describe what the advent of the 
car means to destitute towns like these just referred 
to. I wish that all my readers could be with us for 
the first few days of our stay in some of these 
towns. I wish you could see the mingled expres- 
sions of wonder, consternation, curiosity, and in- 
terest which are portrayed upon the faces of the 
people, both young and old. You may be sure 
that we hardly need any advertising. Boys and 
girls and adults are there to meet the train. The 



138 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

children are asking, '' What is it ? A show car ? " 
The adults are exclaiming, ** Fine car." '* Never 
saw one like it." The chapel car is *Mt." 

Rev. S. G. Neil, who with his wife had such 
marvelous success in the chapel car for years, told 
us of an experience of theirs. 

They were away out in a little place in Kansas. 
A number of men and boys had gathered about the 
outside of the car, and were gazing in wonder at its 
beauty and size. One old man who wore a long 
beard, an old hat, and trousers high about his boot 
tops, could not but express his amazement. He 
was heard to say, *' Gee, that's a long car ! I have 
seen cattle cars and show cars, and every other 
kind of a car, but that beats me. I wonder what 
it is." Then he read, *' Chapel Car," and the 
verse, '*Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature," and the name, ''Mes- 
senger of Peace," and finally to give a fitting 
climax to his consternation he exclaimed, ''Well, 
if that don't beat the devil." Just then the mis- 
sionary popped his head out of the window and 
said, " That is it, that is just what we are on the 
line for, to beat the devil." 

Sometimes I have thought that the arrival of the 
chapel car in one of these communities produced an 
effect similar to that observed when you throw a 
large stone into a quiet pond. There is a distinct 
splash, then the ripples on the water widen until 
they touch the farther shore. So with the car. 
There is a great commotion at first, and the influ- 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 1 39 

ence of the meetings widens until it often touches 
the country for ten to twenty miles around. Peo- 
ple walk in night after night from homes which are 
from one to ten miles away. I have known young 
people to walk in four miles when the thermometer 
registered thirty below zero. 

Once we were dropped by the passenger train in 
a little place in the woods of Minnesota. The con- 
ductor remarked as he cut the car off, *' This is the 
city." We looked about us, and there were just 
two buildings in sight. In that place I preached to 
one hundred and twenty-five people. The woods 
were full of them. 

One Sunday morning in the fall we were at a 
town on the North Dakota prairies. There was no 
church for miles. We stood at the door of the car 
and could see teams and wagon loads of people com- 
ing from all directions. It was a beautiful sight. 
The people filled the chapel car and seemed to drink 
in every word. We were glad that we could give 
them the privilege of the church on wheels. 

MEETINGS 

I think that it may be well for me to write just a 
few words about how we conduct our meetings. 
Let us state at the outset that we go into the towns 
expecting to find some of the people anxious for 
the gospel, and we always find them. We are sure 
to find a few ready to be Christians at once. You 
can see responsiveness stamped on their faces. We 
work to win these to Christ, and their confessions 



140 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

affect the indifferent ones so that conviction deep- 
ens, and we are in the midst of a good series of 
meetings almost before we can believe it. 

As to the meeting itself. The missionary stands 
at the door to welcome each one as he or she comes 
in. They are then asked to unite in the singing. 
The missionary announces at the first meeting, and 
continues to remind the people, that these are not 
to be called *' revival meetings," but rather '* meet- 
ings to help people,'' and he also states why the 
car workers are there, namely, to honestly and 
kindly seek to win them from sin to Christ. No 
scheming, but a frank understanding between 
preacher and people. They know we are there to 
try and help them. There must be no chasm be- 
tween us. The messenger must be close to the 
hearts of his hearers. After the sermon and spe- 
cial songs, we work for definite yielding to God and 
confession then and there. We use many methods 
to accomplish this, but never ask all the Christians 
to stand, thus dividing the congregation. We use 
our parsonage for an inquiry room. 

RESULTS IN THESE CHURCHLESS TOWNS 

I. After consulting with the superintendent of 
missions we arrived at a station in northern Iowa 
one warm day in June. We were side-tracked on 
the prairie and, although a new town site had been 
platted, all that we could find that looked like a 
town was two elevators, a general store and a hard- 
ware store and a lumber vard and office. There 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 141 

was not one dwelling house in the town. The 
storekeepers were young men, and were living at 
the rear of or over their stores. The station agent 
lived a mile away. We found an excellent class of 
people living in the surrounding country when we 
met them, but the first day we did not know that 
anything could be done. Our first meeting was 
advertised to begin at 8 P. M., but at that time only 
one man was in the car. However, by 8.45 P. M. 
about sixty people had gathered, and we had an 
excellent meeting. Every night we could see the 
teams and wagons coming in about 8.30 o'clock. 
Those people would work on their farms from 4 
and 5 A. M. to nearly 7 P. M., have supper, do the 
''chores,'* and get to the chapel car about 8.45 or 
9 P. M., and then return to their homes about 10.30 
or II each night. I said to Mrs. Rust, '* They are 
certainly interested, and I believe we will have 
some good meetings.'' Conviction soon settled on 
them, and in a few days many were anxious to be 
Christians. We worked hard there, and suffered 
much during the terrific heat of the day, as the 
thermometer registered over one hundred degrees 
at noon for almost ten days. There was not one 
tree in the town, and the car stood in the blazing 
sun all day. But it paid well. God blessed the 
meetings more and more and we had about ten to 
baptize and others to receive on experience. It 
was not thought best to organize a new church 
here, but receive these into the membership of a 
church nine miles away. This church and pastor 



142 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

would care for this new field as an outstation, and 
by giving them preaching every week or two he 
would have his salary increased a hundred dollars 
a year. 

But our work was not done yet. This little town 
was to grow surely. These people ought to have a 
church building. The matter was brought before 
them publicly, and the missionary scoured the 
country on wheel, horseback, foot, and carriage, 
to see the people, with the result that in ten days 
we had enough pledged to warrant starting the 
building. Committees were appointed, lots do- 
nated, lumber ordered, and plans and specifications 
drawn up by the missionary. The heat continued 
to be almost unbearable, but we stayed and helped 
to unload the lumber, to build the foundation, and 
to give directions to the carpenters. My heart has 
been deeply touched, as I have seen some of these 
faithful people work and sacrifice to get a church 
building erected. Oftentimes they were too poor 
to have carpets on the floors of their houses, and 
they had heavy mortgages on their farms, but they 
could not think of living like heathen, therefore 
they would give to the very utmost. To make a 
long story short, let me say that the building was 
completed and dedicated in the fall. The pastor 
who was to take charge, came up and helped raise 
the money needed to pay the debt. It was all paid 
and no money came from any religious organization. 
Trustees had been elected, deed turned over to 
them, and this work established as a branch of the 




LAYINci THE FOL^NDATION 



Page 142 




One uf Our Chapels 



Page 143 



RURAL DEPARTMENT I43 

church in the large town near by before we left. 
This opens up a new field, and at the same time 
strengthens an old one. The town has a number of 
dwellings now, and our little church building, which 
was then all alone on the prairie, is in the midst of 
them. The Baptists can get in first sometimes. 

2. We were led to go to another little Iowa settle- 
ment where there was no American church. The 
people had been blessed with some preaching but 
very few people ever attended. At the first meet- 
ing in the car we had about one hundred present, 
and we could not care for the crowds on Sunday. 
At the end of ten days one prominent man and 
some women and many young people had confessed 
Christ. 

In this town there was a well-known merchant 
and politician who was exceedingly skeptical con- 
cerning religious matters. He was a man who en- 
deavored to live a clean, honest life. His wife was 
a Baptist, and she longed and prayed for his con- 
version. He attended nearly every meeting the 
first week. One Sunday afternoon he called at the 
car and said that he had a question to ask me. He 
had been having an argument and he wanted to 
know '' If a man could not be a Christian without 
uniting with any church ? '' I smiled and kindly 
answered that *' I would rather not answer that 
question until you have decided to be a Christian. 
Decide to be a Christian anyway ; and then, when 
you have, come and talk with me about the church 
matter, for that comes second, not first." 



144 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

That evening he arose in meeting as one who 
wanted to be a Christian, and the next night he 
arose and publicly said as his voice choked, '' 1 now 
unconditionally surrender to the God whom I have 
rebelled against all my life/' 

He never came to me with the question about 
the church ; but I went to him in about two weeks 
and said, '*My brother, how about baptism and 
church-membership?'' He answered, ''I am 
ready," and the next Sunday he and his little 
daughter were baptized in the river. Now his 
whole heart is in the work of the church. God is 
using him and honoring him, and his home is one of 
the happiest of earth. I have just received a letter 
from this man (more than four years after his 
conversion), and he is still lifting up the banner of 
the cross in that town, and is cashier of the bank. 

I must record one other special incident. The 
wife of the hardware merchant was converted and 
was thinking of baptism and church-membership ; 
but the husband rebelled and fought the truth, and 
finally became angry with the missionary, and at 
one time used some abusive language to the mis- 
sionary's face. In return I endeavored to be un- 
usually kind to him. The poor man was under 
such deep conviction that he could hardly eat. He 
stayed from meetings for a few days. The next 
Sunday afternoon he asked his wife to pray for 
him, and they both knelt and poured out their 
hearts to God. That evening he came to the meet- 
ing with his wife and while preaching I noticed the 







03 
O 



02 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 145 

tears trickling down his cheek. Mrs. Rust sang a 
tender song, and then I requested those who wanted 
to be Christians to arise and he jumped to his feet. 
At the close of the service I walked down the aisle 
to grasp his hand, and he threw his arms around 
me and sobbingly begged me to forgive him. God 
bless him, how I loved him ! Soon he was happy 
in the Lord and the very next Sunday he and his 
wife went to the river and were baptized. 

The people were anxious to have a meeting- 
house, and soon a lot was given, and enough money 
was pledged to make us sanguine of success. The 
missionary was privileged to test his muscle in load- 
ing and unloading stone, in mixing mortar to keep 
two masons busy, and in shingling the roof. In three 
months the building was dedicated free from debt, 
and no money came from outside the community. 

The district missionary came and organized the 
church. The field was attached to a much larger one 
near by, where they generally have a pastor. By 
doing this no demand was made on State convention 
funds, a new field was opened, and about one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars a year would be paid to the 
pastor in neighboring field. 

3. Rev. D. W. Hulbert, State superintendent of 
missions for Wisconsin, approached me at the May 
meetings in 1902, and asked if we could get our car 
to a small churchless town in Wisconsin. At that 
time we were busy in another State, but during the 
summer I visited that little town, ascertained con- 
ditions, and promised the people that the car would 

K 



146 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

be there in the fall. Rev. N. F. Clark, then pastor 
in a neighboring city, went to this town occasion- 
ally during the summer and held the field by 
preaching in the rear part of a store building. 

My assistant, Mr. E. A. Spear, and 1 arrived in 
this destitute field with the chapel car, November 
I, 1902, and began a regular campaign. Although 
there had been some preaching in a schoolhouse 
which was one and one-half miles from the track, 
yet most of the people knew nothing of enjoying 
anything like gospel services. At our first meeting 
we asked all the Christian people to stay to a 
second meeting for conference and prayer, and only 
one person, a man sixty-five years of age, remained 
with us. He said he knew of no others who were 
willing to confess themselves to be disciples of 
Christ. 

Brother Spear and I decided to call at every home 
within two or three miles of the car. With a 
prayer that God would use us to help the people in 
these homes, we started out. We were cordially 
received, but to our amazement we found that there 
were no people in the neighborhood who were will- 
ing to acknowledge that they had ever been Chris- 
tians or church-members. We could not under- 
stand it, but the fact was that the field was virgin 
soil. Soon this personal work in the homes, and 
the preaching and singing in the car began to bear 
fruit. In less than two weeks some forty gave evi- 
dence that they had really yielded their hearts to 
Christ. 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 1 47 

There were many interesting conversions. Per- 
haps I had better write of a few. One morning 
during the first week of our stay, I went over to a 
house near the car to get some milk. I saw tears 
in the eyes of three people whom I met there, and 
I was confident that God's Spirit was quietly work- 
ing. As I was leaving the house, a noble young 
man came to me, and spoke kindly of the sermon 
he had heard the night before. I answered him 
thus : ** Thank you, but Ben what are going to do 
about the matter yourself ? " He said, *' Mr. Rust, 
please let me work it out in my own way.*' I said, 
'* Yes, my brother, I will, but remember, you will 
not have the feeling you want before you say yes 
to God.'' He said, 'M will remember that,'' and 
then went direct to the cornfield. Before noon- 
time he had kneeled by his wagon and in the open 
field had cried to God for mercy and had yielded 
his heart to Christ. That evening he came to the 
car after the meeting, as he was detained, and 
grasping my hand tightly, he said, ''Mr. Rust, I 
have settled it, and to-morrow night I will go for- 
ward." He was true to his word and the next 
night walked down the aisle, and into the back 
room and on his knees cried because of his sins. 
He was the one who faithfully helped in all the 
work of the church, when others grew careless. 

Let me tell of two of the young people, one a 
girl of thirteen years, bright, responsive, and de- 
termined. She was in a home where the parents 
were not Christians. Her experience was real 



148 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

indeed. Her face revealed a new light after receiv- 
ing Christ into her heart. One day she came to 
me and asked if she might become a member of 
the church. She was told to talk with her parents 
and get their consent. They granted her request, 
but manifested very little interest in it. She was 
received for baptism along with ten others, and 
was told when to meet us so that she could ride to 
the church (seven miles away) where the baptism 
was to be. How we admired this noble girl, and 
yet we could hardly keep the tears back as we saw 
her coming down the roadway the next day, with 
her bundle of clothing under her arm, all alone, 
with no father and mother to go with her. She is 
rapidly developing into Christian womanhood, and 
is destined to fill a large place in the world for 
Christ. 

The other was a boy of fifteen who was con- 
verted. His father bitterly opposed his being bap- 
tized, but finally after listening to the pleadings of 
his boy, consented. The mercury was about zero 
on the day of the baptism and we had seven 
miles to go. The section foreman was to be bap- 
tized also, so he procured a railroad velocipede, and 
all three of us started on it. At some places the 
track was partially covered with snow, and we 
were ditched several times before reaching the 
church. I found that this boy was thinly clad and 
was suffering from the cold, but no murmur escaped 
his lips. He seemed glad to be able to obey the 
command of his Lord and follow him in baptism. 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 1 49 

The church of seventeen members which was 
soon organized was born in real hardship and 
sacrifice. It cost them much to come out and wit- 
ness together for Christ, but it made them worth 
something to their Lord. We had been in town 
but a short time when we learned that a devout 
old man, who was grandfather to Ben, had many 
times gone to a spot on a corner lot and prayed 
that some day there might be a meeting-house 
erected there. His prayers, uttered so many years 
ago, were now being answered through the chapel 
car and its workers. 

After having been in the town two weeks, we 
brought the matter of a church building before the 
people and secured enough money in pledges to 
warrant proceeding with the plans. We were 
greatly helped by one family, which was composed 
of relatives of the old gentleman who had prayed 
for the meeting-house. One morning a young man 
from this family, with whom I had talked about the 
church building, came into the car study and 
handed to me a slip of paper, which was a promise 
to give two lots of land to the church that they 
might build a meeting-house on them. I thanked 
him heartily. He then put his hand down deep 
into his pocket and drew out one hundred dollars in 
gold, saying, '* Mr. Rust, this is what we will give 
toward the new meeting-house, and we wanted 
you to have the cash so that you would be sure 
that you are going to get it.*' 

Enough money was pledged on one Sunday to 



150 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

make the people confident that they would have a 
church home, and they were very happy. This 
was November i6 and cold weather would soon be 
here, therefore we must try to get the building 
started at once. The following is the record for 
the next week : 

Monday. Owner of a stone ledge interviewed 
and stone donated. Tuesday. Stone hauled to the 
lots. Wednesday. Mason and his helpers on hand. 
Thursday and Friday. Foundation wall being laid 
and finished. Saturday. Sills and floor laid. 

Those of my readers who have ever erected 
chapels know how much detail work the missionary 
had to attend to. He was architect and hod carrier, 
and was also treasurer of the building fund. Lum- 
ber had been ordered, and the railroad company 
hauled it free from the mill. 

The contractor was engaged to take charge of 
building the meeting-house, many men donated 
their labor, and by February i the house was ready 
for dedication. The State superintendent of mis- 
sions came, preached the dedication sermon, and 
led in raising the money so that no debt should be 
on the building. 

Thus as a result of the visit of the chapel car to 
this destitute field, we have : (i) A thousand-dol- 
lar chapel built and paid for. (2) A whole commu- 
nity aroused to religious thought. (3) A church 
organized and incorporated. (4) A Sunday-school 
of sixty members organized. (5) A woman's aid 
society organized. (6) A young people's society 




Shingling a Church 



Page 150 




A Churchless Toavn 



Page 135 



RURAL DEPARTMENT 151 

organized. (7) Lives changed for eternity. (8) A 
regular preaching point established. 

Let me state that no call has been made on the 
State Convention to care for this field. The pastor 
in a neighboring town preaches here every Sunday. 
Of course this is not possible in some instances, 
but this is ideal. Words can never express what 
the visit of the chapel car meant to that little town. 

I cannot bring this chapter and story of chapel 
car work to an end without referring to the service 
rendered by the five other cars. I want my readers 
to know that what they have read in the preceding 
pages, can be more than duplicated by each of our 
other cars. I honestly believe that the other mis- 
sionaries can tell more thrilling incidents than I can. 

For more than ten years Rev. J. S. Thomas has 
been wonderfully blessed on ''Evangel.'' I think 
he has built more meeting-houses than any other 
missionary. 

Rev. B. B. Jacques and wife, who were on 
'' Emmanuel,'' and Rev. E. R. Hermiston and wife, 
who are now on that car, could give us many start- 
ling facts of the power of the chapel-car work. 

Rev. G. B. Roger, who has had charge of '* Good 
Will " for so many years, could repeat the story of 
salvation for hours. He has been greatly blessed. 

Rev. S. G. Neil and wife who were on ''Messen- 
ger of Peace," did have, and Rev. J. P. Jacobs and 
wife who are now on that car, are having a con- 
tinuation of remarkable experiences, and the chapel 
car has been a power in their territory. 



152 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

And Rev. A. P. MacDonald, of ''Herald of 
Hope/' could tell you of town after town that he 
tried to do work in as a district missionary and 
failed, and how he went in with the chapel car and 
a church was organized and building erected. 

God has certainly blessed all the chapel cars as 
the following results show : Number of churches 
organized, 135; meeting-houses built, 112; value 
of these meeting-houses, $138,000 ; pastors settled, 
134; Bible-schools organized, 243 ; baptisms as re- 
sult of chapel-car work, 4,578; scores of weak 
churches strengthened. More than twelve thou- 
sand professed conversions. 



XI 

CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 

I THINK It is generally known that the chapel 
cars are under the control of the Baptist de- 
nomination and that that denomination believes 
in organization of Christian effort. Our world-wide 
activities are well organized and we are on this 
planet to do God's work in a business-like and 
sensible way. 

In some of the Western States where we have 
labored the Baptists have three organizations at 
work. Each one has its field and purpose clearly 
outlined, but all are working harmoniously together. 

At this point in my narrative I want to take time 
to express my faith in and appreciation of the great 
work of our Home Mission Society. During these 
years of service I have been in close touch with 
its district and State representatives and many of 
its missionaries, and I can gladly testify to the effi- 
ciency of its laborers and to the marked influence 
for righteousness which it has exerted upon the 
throbbing life and rapid growth of the great West. 
The people in the West certainly owe a great deal 
to the Home Mission Society. 

No one can read the history of the First Baptist 
Church of St. Paul, Minn.; of their early struggles 

153 



154 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

and how the Society carried them for years by 
paying five hundred dollars of the six hundred 
dollars of the pastor's salary, and of the Baptist 
work in the State which developed from this begin- 
ning, and of the thrilling story of those two young 
men who went from this First Church to the Terri- 
tory of North Dakota and established the Baptist 
cause in that region, without recognizing the power 
of the Society in the development of the West. 

And then when you add to this the story of 
Baptist missions in South Dakota one cannot help 
but feel truly grateful to God for the grand work 
of the noble men in this time-honored Society. This 
Society is one of the three organizations at work in 
the Western States. 

The second organization is the State Convention. 
The very name implies an organized State service. 
This is an incorporated body. On its Board are 
representatives from the whole State, and a more 
consecrated or godly set of men I have never met. 
This organization has come into existence as the 
pioneer work demanded it. I have been in personal 
touch with the general missionaries and correspond- 
ing secretaries of five State Conventions in the 
Northwest and we have enjoyed delightful fellow- 
ship together. I meet with them in their Board 
meetings and pray with them for the work. This 
organized effort has marvelously developed Baptist 
work in the West as it has all over the country. 
The yearly reports of the general missionary of 
these Conventions are full of facts of progress. 



CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 155 

The third organization is the American baptist 
Publication Society. This Society is older than 
either of the two just mentioned, and is known as 
the Society that does Sunday-school, colportage, 
chapel-car, and Bible and tract work. We have a 
distinctive field, yet we are constantly endeavoring 
to make our service fit into and help the work of 
the other two organizations. We do not believe 
that it is at all wise to assert the right of the indi- 
vidual and teach that each one should do as his 
inclination inspires him and then run everywhere 
and nowhere doing everything and nothing. To 
have the best work done we need to get together 
and work in one triple team, not one ahead of the 
other, but all side by side pulling harmoniously 
together. We are glad that during all of these 
years we have been in harmony and now we are 
closer than ever. We shall remember with a great 
deal of pleasure these years of labor with Rev. E. R. 
Pope, of Minnesota ; Rev. D. W. Hulbert, of Wis- 
consin ; Rev. S. E. Wilcox, of Iowa ; Rev. T. M. 
Shanafelt, of South Dakota ; and Rev. C. W. Brin- 
stad, of Nebraska. I think I may add that as a result 
of the visit of our honored missionary and Bible sec- 
retary. Dr. R. G. Seymour, to the Western Con- 
ventions the whole work of our Society is in closer 
harmony with the State work than ever before. 

SOMETHING OF AN INNOVATION 

Our Society had carried on its regular service 
in these Western States for years, but in 1891 a 



156 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

new and novel kind of a work was put into its 
hands, namely, the chapel car. This was so new 
and visionary that some of the most conservative 
people considered it worthless and, at best, thought 
it was an innovation. It created quite a stir, and 
questions concerning the nature of its work and the 
possibility of adjustment began to arise. This was 
very natural, for one could never tell where such 
an unheard-of form of Christian service might lead. 
Little did our Society know of its power at that 
time. It was an experiment, but our secretaries 
and workers were from the beginning only desirous 
of using this chapel car for what God intended it to 
be and adjusting it to all other Christian work. 
We had no conception how it would develop. We 
have been in school all these years and are just 
now learning its power. We have made some mis- 
takes, but not intentionally. God has enabled us 
to profit by these errors. We have tried and are 
trying to have the car work a ''helper" to all 
organized work as well as to individuals. As the 
great possibilities of the chapel-car movement have 
developed during these fifteen years we have ever 
sought to wisely adjust them into the line of helping 
the large work of the State conventions rather than 
indifferently allowing them to hinder. In the provi- 
dence of God the chapel car was given to our 
Society and we received it as a sacred trust, not to 
belittle but to enlarge, and while at first it was 
almost an innovation in our work and we sent it 
forth on its mission with fear and trembling, it was 



CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 1 57 

with an earnest prayer that God might give us 
wisdom to use it just as he would have us. As its 
possibilities increased the secretaries recognized 
that certain difficulties would increase and they 
must be obviated if possible. 

I have before me some letters that I received 
from Dr. C. C. Bitting and Colonel Banes in No- 
vember 1894, more than ten years ago. They both 
wrote me about the distinctive work of our Society 
and told me to adhere strictly to it. I must be con- 
tent to leave only a Sunday-school organization in 
a town and must not attempt to organize churches. 
That work belonged to the State Convention and 
Home Mission Society, and there must be no 
friction. They very kindly explained it all to me, 
and surely manifested a right spirit toward the 
other societies, as they thus planned to have their 
workers do exactly what they were sent out to do. 
They did not realize what God could do with the 
car in bringing to pass something more than simply 
Sunday-school organizations. At that time it was 
dawning on me, but for years I carefully planned 
to do nothing more than they outlined for me, and 
in all these years of service not one church has 
been organized in our car ('*Glad Tidings") or 
through our efforts, without careful consultation 
with the State superintendent of missions. For 
nearly two years I tried to satisfy myself with 
rather a flitting, superficial sort of a routine. 
Only a few days in a place and then organize a 
Sunday-school. We hardly dared to stay very long 



158 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

for fear we might have enough conversions for a 
church, and thereby open up the possibility of crit- 
icism as a demand for a church organization came 
to the front. We were before two difficulties. If 
we let the car-work loose, and stayed a few weeks 
and had many conversions and material for a 
church organization, then we had gone outside of 
our legitimate work. On the other hand, if we 
stayed but a few days and organized simply a Sun- 
day-school and there was no permanent church 
organization and building to show for the money 
expended, then our critics relegated chapel-car 
service to the place of something which was vision- 
ary and superficial and declared that it lacked real 
power to do anything which would last. This was 
very hard on me, especially when I was becoming 
conscious of what could be done in what we term 
"permanent work." 

Might I state right here that I sometimes think, 
however, that we measure our religious work a 
little too much by statistics of buildings, and soci- 
eties organized ? I know of something that is far 
more permanent than any building of earth, and 
that is a saved life in Jesus Christ. That will out- 
last all the storms of earth, and will shine in God's 
kingdom forever. That is certainly permanent. If 
God is really using any worker of his to save lives, 
and those lives are regenerated in the power of the 
Holy Spirit, then that worker is doing something 
permanent. I could tell you of many such lives 
being saved and inspired during these years, in 



CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 1 59 

towns where no organization was effected and no 
building erected, and they are still proving by their 
fruits that the roots are permanently settled in the 
great life of God. This thought has greatly encour- 
aged me, but nevertheless it is true that we need 
organizations and buildings, for they help to keep 
these lives saved, and are centers from which influ- 
ences are to radiate toward many who have not 
been touched. We as Baptists have been too slow 
to see the power emanating from a church building, 
and particularly the first one in town. There was 
a time when we could get a missionary into a town 
on the first train and we were forced to believe that 
this was the best we could do, but now we can run 
a nice church building in and side-track it there 
until the first meeting-house can be erected in the 
town. There is power in this. Workers of the 
State Convention can easily see it. 

CO-OPERATION DEVELOPMENT 

As I look back over this long period of service, I 
can see three very distinct periods of development 
toward the happy and perfect co-operation which 
now exists. We have taken these steps upward 
very naturally and easily as we have come to them. 
We did not come together at first with blows and 
then quiet down to love-pats, nor did we first bring 
swords in our hands and then change to bouquets. 
There was no need for such methods. We were 
brothers in the same work. Therefore we came 
together in loving and prayerful consultation. 



l60 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

First stage. When we first took the car, our 
work was understood to be limited and we did not 
need to consult other organizations much. We 
thought of church organizations as hardly possible. 
While I was in touch with the State Convention 
yet I had my work in the line of Sunday-school 
endeavor and we did not need to consult often. 

Second Stage. Then we began to realize the 
power of the car work to help raise dying church 
interests and establish new ones. We were get- 
ting closer and closer into affiliation with the State 
Convention workers, and a mutual understanding 
existed between us that we would work together 
more than ever. We had some consultations and 
generally understood about what we were to do, 
although definite plans were not laid. I would look 
up needy fields and go to them as I thought best. 
Then if I found church organization ought to be 
effected, I would seek the advice of the superin- 
tendent of missions, and seek to impress him with 
the importance of caring for the work at that point. 

Third stage. One can easily perceive that the 
first is hardly co-operation at all, and that the sec- 
ond was far from perfect. Both might lead to much 
waste of time and to many mistakes. As the 
chapel car could be so wonderfully used to further 
the work of the State Convention, it would certainly 
be best to have it identified with that body and 
under its direction. Then we would feel our work 
was counting for the most, and the State Conven- 
tion would know just what was being done. So 



CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT l6l 

while the cars remained under the Publication So- 
ciety as the denomination voted at Buffalo in 1903, 
yet they were to be considered as being under the 
direction of the State Convention. Instead of going 
anywhere and stopping for meetings, and then if 
the work turned out well and needed help, notify 
the State Convention, we now go to the Conven- 
tion first, either to the general missionary or into 
the meeting of the Board, and a committee is ap- 
pointed and work at various points is definitely 
planned, with the expectation that it will be fol- 
lowed up and cared for. We are thus a part of 
the organized work of the State. During recent 
years the superintendent of missions has many 
times gone himself to look over the field and then 
requested me to go with the car. Sometimes 
these were new interests, sometimes dying ones. 
When letters come to me with requests to visit 
certain fields, I submit these to the superintendent 
of missions, and in consultation, we decide. I go to 
the Board meetings, send my reports to the Board, 
and feel myself a part of its work. We have delight- 
ful fellowship together and the work is pleasant. 
This is co-operation surely. We have had more or 
less of this all these years, but now it seems to be 
perfected and we are happy in its possibilities. In 
these Board meetings I have learned of the many 
requests that come for the Convention to help. 
Because of lack of funds, some of these must be 
answered by ''Impossible," and others must have 
the amount of money cut down. I do sympathize 

L 



l62 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

with the Board in these problems and I would cer- 
tainly be more than unreasonable to attempt to add 
any more burdens. Yet they feel that we cannot 
stop all aggressive and new work, even if many 
weak interests are calling loudly. 

In some States the chapel car has been able to 
help the State Convention in what I term an ideal 
way. If you remember in the chapter preceding 
this, of the results in churchless towns, you will 
recall how in each of those three fields mentioned 
(and I could mention more), a new work was 
opened, buildings erected and paid for and no 
money asked from building fund, and salary added 
to that of the pastor of the organized church near 
by. During these years the Convention has never 
been called upon to support these interests. This 
is ideal and can be done often when planned ; how- 
ever, we recognize that at times the Convention 
wants us to open a new field and it expects to put 
money into it. 

Then in Chapter XI. Brother Francis' story of 
the work of the car at Bemidji shows what help it 
was at that critical moment and what can be done 
with co-operation and good planning. In my judg- 
ment many new fields can be opened up by means 
of the chapel car without adding any burden to the 
State Convention, by following this plan : 

Ascertain where there are churchless towns or 
small communities which reveal the possibilities of 
a new Baptist church, near to a Baptist church with 
a settled pastor. If that pastor would care for the 



CO-OPERATION DEPARTMENT 163 

new interest, then run the chapel car into the little 
town and have it stay until the new field could be 
developed. This has been done many times. 

The possibilities of the chapel-car work under 
existing conditions of perfected co-operation are so 
great that they can hardly be expressed. 



CHAPTER XII 
WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 

THERE is no doubt but that this question comes 
to the minds of a great many people. They 
need no arguments more than the facts to 
prove that up to this moment the movement has been 
remarkably successful and productive of really mar- 
velous results. But how long can it continue } is the 
question. Will we need the cars forever ? Will 
not conditions change, so that by and by they would 
be useless ? These are reasonable questions, and 
we ought to be able to answer them. 

Let me state first, that if all of the cars should go 
out of commission to-day, and never be used again^ 
no one could justly declare that the work was a 
failure. The man who gave our car said that *'If 
' Glad Tidings ' were to be demolished in a wreck, 
and never could be built again, he would always 
thank God that he had had the privilege of giving 
it, and these few years of service were worth all it 
had cost.*' 

If the work should suddenly stop, the cars have 
served a noble purpose and they could be easily 
sold for good money, and that money could be 
used in furthering other work under our Society. 
However, we have no fear that this will occur very 
164 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 165 

soon, and when I am asked about the future, and 
people ask me as to what the prospects are, I in- 
variably answer in the words of another, '* Bright 
as the promises of God." When he wants it to 
stop, we are willing. When his blessing ceases 
and his glory departs from us, as he writes ** Icha- 
bod " on the side of each car, then we can say 
truthfully, *Mt is useless to continue, we have no 
future prospects," but while such blessing attends 
every turn of the wheels, we feel that the future 
is resplendent with glorious possibilities. 
Let me answer some questions in order. 

1. IVhat of the Future Concerning the Car Itself? 
*'Glad Tidings" has been in service about eleven 
years, and looks almost as good as new to-day. It 
has been placed in the shops every eighteen months 
during these years, for varnish and paint, and we 
have tried to be earful of the interior finish, so that 
one would hardly believe that some three thousand 
meetings had been held in it. Then, as the car 
does not average two thousand miles a year now, 
the wear on the trucks is reduced to a minimum. 
I see no reason why our car cannot be used for one 
hundred years. 

2. What of the Future Concerning Transportation? 
As to the future concerning transportation there 
is no room for anxiety. He who has led, will lead. 
One enthusiastic general manager who has care- 
fully examined the work of the chapel car, has re- 
quested our Society to keep a car on his line ail 
the time, and in consultation with another promi- 



l66 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

nent railroad official, he proposed building a car 
and keeping it on the line for the good of his 
own men. 

Some one asked the question as to whether the 
time will come or not, when we will have to pay 
mileage for our cars. We are conscious that the 
railroads may feel they have granted free trans- 
portation long enough and therefore ask us to 
pay something for their hauling the cars ; but if 
this does come, and every car is running on a pay- 
ing mileage basis, it will not stop the chapel-car 
work. If the work is planned correctly the car 
does not move many miles in a year. I can see 
how the mileage of the chapel car could be kept 
under a thousand miles a year, which would not 
make it so very expensive while paying for trans- 
portation. But we are not worrying. The work 
is in God's hands. Just now it does not look as if 
the time would ever come when we would be 
obliged to pay mileage for all of our cars. One of 
our car missionaries writes, '*My 'annual' for 1905 
is at hand. It reads, ' Pass the car and missionary 
and three assistants.' '' Another missionary writes, 
''I have seven annual passes for 1905 for car and 
party," and the author has three in his pocket at 
this writing. Judging from this, we are believing 
that most of the railroad companies believe that 
the work is worth the cost of hauling the cars. If 
anything occurs which will put all of the cars on 
the mileage basis, then the railroads will no doubt 
allow us to sell religious books and we can cover 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 167 

expenses with the profits accruing from the sales ; 
therefore we have nothing to fear here. 

3. What of the Future Concerning Co-operation? 
The denomination has decided that the chapel cars 
are to remain with the American Baptist Publi- 
cation Society. Co-operation in all States where 
the cars are working is perfect. They are con- 
sidered to be a part of the work of each State and 
the sweetest fellowship exists between State and 
car missionaries. The workers are hand in hand, 
and shoulder to shoulder in the service of the 
Master. We do not know how it could be any 
better. You would never know that they are 
under separate societies. Their work blends in 
perfect harmony. I have just received a letter 
from the president of the State Convention Board 
of Nebraska, and another from the State superin- 
tendent of missions for that State, asking me to be 
present at the next Board meeting, that we together 
may plan for future work in Nebraska. Such co- 
operation is simply delightful. Since writing this, 
we have begun work in Nebraska. 

4. What of the Future Concerning Fields ? The 
question as to how many years the country will 
furnish pioneer work in new and small church- 
less towns for the chapel car, arises quite often. 
While the time may come sometime, when our 
Western country may be so settled that new towns 
are unheard of, yet that is so far in the dim future, 
that it has little effect on us at the present. Judg- 
ing from what we can see now, a conservative 



l68 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

estimate would give us at least fifty years more of 
genuine pioneer work. We could use a car in 
each of the States west of the Mississippi for 
many decades of years. The possibilities are sim- 
ply unlimited. In northern Minnesota hundreds 
of miles of new track are to be laid. The other 
States are putting in much new track, and open- 
ing up rich country. In the Big Horn Basin in 
Wyoming, two railroads are building and new 
towns by the scores are springing up. In one 
corner of Iowa we knew of seventy-five new 
towns in a single year. I have a scheme in my 
mind concerning the best way to do efficient work 
on a new line of railway, in co-operation with the 
State Convention. After much prayer and plan- 
ning in the Board meeting, select a new line of 
railway, say one hundred and fifty miles in length, 
where from ten to twenty new towns have been 
platted. Have the Board appoint a district mis- 
sionary and the chapel-car missionary to put a full 
year in on that line. Let the district missionary 
go over the line carefully, stop at the towns, select 
ten or a dozen to work in. Hold a meeting in a 
station or home or anywhere to hold the field, 
and make a regular appointment. Then run the 
chapel car in for a series of meetings in some 
town. Let it put in a full month, endeavor to get 
souls saved, church organized, and building started. 
Then go to another field and at the same time watch 
and care for the work just started. Do the same if 
possible in each town. Combine the fields, put 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 169 

pastors on them, etc. I firmly believe it would 
pay to put in a whole year on this one short line. 
At the end of that time, under the blessing of God, 
they ought to report something like this : Three 
hundred conversions, two hundred baptisms, ten 
churches and Sunday-schools organized, ten meet- 
ing-houses erected, four pastors settled, a whole 
railway line in touch with God. Why not concen- 
trate like this ? I confidently afiirm that these 
results could be achieved in one year if we put 
our life into such a movement. 

5. JVhat of the Future Concerning Money for Its 
Support? A very pertinent question as we consider 
the support of the cars is, '* Where does the money 
come from ? " and another question that naturally 
arises is, *' Do you not take collections in the towns 
that you visit ? " In answering the first, let me 
state that the chapel-car work is not endowed 
(although we wish it could be), and we depend 
upon the freewill offerings of the people. 

In answering the second question, I would state 
that we do take collections in all the towns we 
visit, and the people are glad to give what they 
can. But as the work is mostly pioneer in its 
nature, the collections must necessarily be small. 
In fact the idea of sending this equipped church on 
wheels into these little towDs, was to give them 
the privileges of religious worship that large towns 
and cities enjoy, and not demand that they should 
pay for the entire cost of it. 

In the small towns we have at times found the 



170 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

people very appreciative, and when they could afford 
it, they would give liberally. I remember visiting a 
churchless town in Wisconsin. There were some 
responsive Swedish people there. Some of them 
worked for the ice companies. One day a man who 
had received a great blessing in the meetings, came 
to the car and handed a ten-dollar bill to me, saying, 
''Mr. Rust, I want to do something for Jesus." A 
few days after this I met his brother who had been 
converted, and he said, *'Mr. Rust, I too want to do 
something for Jesus," as he handed ten dollars to 
me. These men were getting but forty-five dollars 
a month and had families to care for. However, I 
have never had the people give so largely since. 

I remember we had about a hundred in the car 
one night in a pioneer town, and the basket was 
passed, but there was but eight cents in it when I 
received it. Those people had plenty of cabbages 
and potatoes, but little cash. The offerings in. the 
small towns do not amount to enough to pay for 
the repairs on the car. 

Then again, when we erect a meeting-house, 
these people truly sacrifice to pay for it, and there- 
fore have little money to give for the chapel car. 
If we were to stay in the small churchless towns 
all the time one can easily see that the collections 
would not enable us to pay many bills. It is cer- 
tainly a blessed ministry to be able to give the 
people in these destitute places this kind of Chris- 
tian service, for they would never have it if others 
did not send it to them. 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 171 

It costs about two thousand dollars to pay for 
two missionaries, and the repairs, etc., on each car 
each year. This is far from being expensive when 
you consider the work done. We need money to 
keep up the work of these cars, and I see no reason 
why I may not state right here, that if any of my 
readers feel as if they would like to contribute a spe- 
cial offering to this work it would reach me if mailed 
to No. 1420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

6. What of the Future Concerning the Prosecution 
of the Work? The Publication Society has revealed 
its ability to care for the chapel-car service of the 
denomination in a commendable way, and because 
of its experience and a firm faith in the power of 
this service, we believe no other organization could 
do the work with better success. 

With a sincerity that has always characterized 
its activities the Publication Society stands ready 
to do three things regarding the chapel cars : 

1. As one of my teachers once told me when 
leaving school, **Rust, you stick.'' I have been 
endeavoring to ''stick'' to this work and the 
Society is determined to ''stick" to it also, and 
because it believes in it. 

2. The Society is endeavoring to put the best 
effort into it. To constantly aim to make it the 
best it can be is its purpose. 

3. The Society is ready to increase it if con- 
tinued and enlarged support can be guaranteed. It 
certainly seems as if millions of people would be 
glad to help in supporting it. 



172 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

The Society's officers and management and all 
of the chapel-car missionaries are agreed that it 
is one of the most powerful evangelistic agencies 
of the twentieth century. They ought to l<now 
something about it. Surely there is no reason why 
this service should not be continued with increased 
efficiency if money is given to support it. 

I wonder if you remember the story of the old 
man who had heard of the locomotive and went to 
see it for the first time. He expressed his lack of 
faith in the thing, and declared that it would never 
go. He admired its wonderful parts, but kept re- 
peating *' It will never go." By and by it started, 
and moved, slowly, then faster, and soon was 
away off in the distance. He stood gazing at it, 
and then declared 'Mt will never stop." The 
chapel-car movement has had about the same ex- 
perience as this locomotive. At first many declared 
*' It will never go," and when it did go at such a 
rapid rate they gazed at it and exclaimed, '' It will 
never stop." We are sure that it is going. There 
is no doubt about that. We are not worrying 
about its stopping. It will stop when God wants it 
to, and not till then. We are not throwing any 
sand under the wheels, though, nor are we putting 
the brakes on. It could go much faster, however, 
if we only had more money to generate steam with. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD 

About fifteen years ago a baby was born in the 
Baptist family. That baby was the Chapel-car 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 173 

Movement. He was born in the minds of noble 
Christian men, but no child of earth ever came 
from heaven more directly than he did. He was 
born at a time of special need and was destined to 
fill that need. The progress of the nineteenth 
century demanded him and the world cried for him. 

However, his coming into the Christian and Bap- 
tist home life was a genuine surprise. No prepara- 
tion had ever been made for his birth. In fact, very 
few in the family welcomed him. Brothers and 
sisters gathered about him in wonder. They had 
never seen a child like him before. It was true 
that all members of the Baptist family did not look 
nor act alike, but this one did not resemble any 
one in the home. He was not like any of the 
others in form or features. In fact no child of any 
family of Christian work was ever shaped as he 
was. He was so entirely different that we called 
him a decided innovation. Where to put him and 
what to do with him we did not know. We con- 
sidered him a tiny weakling, and yet we were 
afraid of him. The question before us was. Who is 
going to nurse and train him ? No one desired the 
task. Very few in the family had much if any 
faith in him, and the poor child was tossed from 
one to the other, and finally landed in the lap of 
the American Baptist Publication Society. 

While some opened the doors of criticism and 
allowed the cold air of unbelief to rush in on him 
(chilling him to the bone and almost bringing on 
pneumonia and death), and others declared that he 



174 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

was only a toy baby and was not real, and others 
were sure that he would never live, and it would 
have been much better for ''the poor thing," and 
for the world, if he had not been born, and still 
others dismissed him from their thought with the 
statement that he had no mission in the world and 
that he was not wanted in the family, — the Publi- 
cation Society, with trembling and fear, opened 
her arms and took him in as he was presented to 
her. She was determined that she would accept 
him from the Lord as a legitimate child born of the 
Holy Spirit, and that she would feed him, train him, 
and send him out into the world to be useful in 
extending the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

As we look back over those early days we can 
blame no one for criticizing him, for we certainly 
did misunderstand him, and some of the most san- 
guine had some doubt about his ancestry, and also 
concerning his power to maintain any rightful place 
in the great Baptist family. But this did not prove 
that he was worthless, for hundreds of children 
have been born into the human family without any 
cordial reception, yet in after years they have 
demonstrated to the most skeptical that they 
deserved a large place in the hearts of men. 

The secretaries of the Society into whose lap he 
had fallen, gazed at him dubiously during those 
early days of infancy. They would look at him in 
his cradle and discuss his origin and possibilities, 
and when the time came to send him forth into the 
world to see what he could do, they confessed that 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? I75 

they were obliged to put many question marks after 
his name. They worried quite a little about their 
boy, because he was so strange and so many derog- 
atory remarks had been made about him. They 
wondered how the world would receive him. Then 
they were specially sympathetic with him, for he 
was so peculiarly constructed that he could not 
make his way through the world as the other mem- 
bers of the family did. He was made to go on 
steel highways only, and these highways were not 
public thoroughfares, and were controlled by people 
who were liable not to take very kindly to him. If 
these people refused to allow him on their steel rails, 
then the Society would be obliged to build a special 
house for him, and this they could ill afford to do. 

However, if he had been allowed to speak for 
himself I think he would have said: 'M have no 
fear, just give me a fair chance and I will show to 
the world and to the Baptist family that they do not 
need to be ashamed of me." 

His foster-mother, the American Baptist Publica- 
tion Society has, with the other members of the 
family, revealed great patience with him. He was 
young and full of life and, as most boys are, was 
liable to overstep the mark of propriety at times, 
and thus cause his mother some trouble. He would 
cut up a few pranks and be a little too forward at 
times, and rather hurt the feelings of his brothers 
and sisters, but his mother rebuked him kindly and 
tried to hold him in his rightful place. She ascer- 
tained nevertheless that his heart was all right. 



176 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 

These pranks and mistakes were simply because 
he had too much life and "go " in him. He knew 
that intense activity was to characterize his career 
on earth, and that he was made to go, therefore 
one can easily see that he might get to going too 
fast at times. He never really intended to do 
wrong, but was always anxious to do exactly what 
the family wanted him to do. We are glad to state 
that he profited by his mistakes and quickly 
revealed his true worth. 

His development was rapid. Actually marvelous. 
He began to show signs of great strength at once, 
and made rapid strides toward manhood. He soon 
left his baby clothes behind him. Before the other 
members of the family hardly knew it, he was a 
great, stout boy, and now at fifteen years of age 
he has matured, and is taking the place of a strong 
man in the world. He has certainly won his way. 
The transportation companies have given him the 
use of their highways. He is welcomed into the 
best of society. The rich and poor, the high and 
low, all love him. He stands so erect and reveals 
such strength that his brothers and sisters have 
given him an exalted place in the family. 

He has asked for no sentimental tolerance or 
pity, but by hard work and real service to the 
denomination and the kingdom of God, has proven 
his sterling worth. In all humility he stands before 
the other members of the Baptist household and 
says : " I take no glory to myself. My inspiration 
has come from the great need about me, from those 



WHAT OF THE FUTURE ? 1 77 

who have believed in me, and from my heavenly 
Father. He has constantly told me that he had 
confidence in me, and that he could use me in this 
sinful world. While I am conscious that I have not 
reached my full growth yet, I am pressing toward 
that mark." He bows his head to all in the Baptist 
home, and thanks each one for his consideration 
and patience with him, and asks that all pray that 
God might make him more useful than ever. 

THE VISION OF THE FUTURE IS INSPIRING 
AND HOPEFUL 

The future has much in store for us. The field 
is white to the harvest. Jewels and gems are 
lying just beneath the surface in hundreds of towns 
in the West. Individual buds of promise are all ready 
to blossom into beautiful flowers of manhood and 
womanhood all around us. Opportunities for 
rescue work abound. Everywhere there are mar- 
velous possibilities to lay solid religious foundations 
for the coming generations. The command from 
our Captain reads, '' Go ye,'' and in answer to this 
the wheels must continue to turn. The Spirit of 
God is with us. We are trusting him. On speed 
these chariots of salvation until ''the ransomed 
church of God is saved to sin no more." 

CHAPEL CAR HYMN 
Tune— ''America." 

Sweep on, O car of light, 
God bless thy holy flight. 



178 A CHURCH ON WHEELS 



On thy wheels bring | 

Peace to the troubled breast, j 

An^ to the weary rest ; I 

Glad for thy mission blest, ] 

Theangels sing. \ 

Roll o'er the mountain's height, 
Roll o'er the waters bright, 

The distant sea ; | 

Visit the lonely vale, 
Outfly the wintry gale— 
Thy errand will not fail, 

God moves with thee. 

Ride on, triumphant Lord, i 

Thy Spirit and thy word 

Shall speed thy way ; 
Scatter the shades of night, 
Command '* Let there be light," 
Gird on thy sword of might 

And win the day. 

Salvation's chariot, roll 
On, till from pole to pole 

Christ reigns alone ; 
Till darkness turns to-day. 
Till earth shall choose his sway, 
And all its trophies lay 

Before his throne. 

—Rev. S. F. Smith. 



NOV 24 1903 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2005 

Preservationlechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOf 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 

i 



37 ri 



' r' 



